Teamwork for Beginners
by Synaps
Summary: In a world filled with superheroes, Amity Park isn't even a blip on the map. (Mostly because of the government cover-up.) However, things change when Phantom and Red Huntress get drafted onto the Team. Ghosts are becoming more important in the battle of heroes and villains, and the Justice League aren't the only ones to notice the potential.
1. Motion

**AN:** This fic will be full of my headcanons, as well as some minor things that goes against original canon, aka:

Danny's Powers: I'm going draw inspiration form what _Young_ _Justice_ did to Conner and Megan and give Danny _less_ powers than he has in original canon. This is partly to make him less OP compared to the YJ characters, partly to make him more differentiated from Superboy. As such, he has no ice, no duplication, no super-strength and no super-senses. (With that I mean things like super-hearing, not his Ghost Sense. Night-vision and stuff like that are just fanon, but they are rather prevalent in fanfic.) I'm letting him keep his Ghostly Wail because it comes with its own pre-packaged drawbacks.

Canon Timelines: Unless otherwise noted, _Young_ _Justice_ episodes happen between chapters in the same way they play out in canon. If it's important which episodes have happened I'll make a note of it. This first chapter takes place between _Infiltrator_ and _Denial. Danny_ _Phantom_ is post _D-Stabilized_ with no _Phantom_ _Planet,_ and without any episodes that won't make sense without the powers I've removed (aka _Urban Jungle_ )

* * *

 **Motion**

Early August meant many things.

For high school students, it mainly meant that summer was coming to an end. That he fleeting time spent on vacation was extra precious and needed to be cherished. Most young people in Amity Park were at the pool, savouring the warm weather and brilliant sunshine.

Which was why Danny, Tucker and Sam were at Tucker's house playing video games.

The curtains were drawn, _almost_ giving the illusion of darkness but mainly making the room feel stuffy and smell of sweat. Between them sat a bowl of chips. Sour cream and onion. Life was good.

"Look, all I'm saying is that Danny's the youngest superhero." Tucker leaned forward as he spoke, heavily invested in the conversation even as his eyes were glued to the screen.

"And _I'm_ saying that Robin's got to be younger than Danny." Sam frowned, and punctuated her claim by viciously hitting Tucker's character in the game.

"Sidekicks don't count!"

"Yes they do!"

Danny let the argument go by without interruption. At this point, he was used to his two best friends fighting about inconsequential nonsense. Whether it was superheroes or meat versus vegetarian food.

"Danny, you agree with me. Right?"

He hated it when they tried to drag him into their arguments. Danny sighed deeply before answering.

"Sidekicks should count. I mean, you two are practically _my_ sidekicks and-"

"We are _not._ " Tucker managed to look offended, even as he stuffed his face full of chips.

"You totally are. You follow me around and act as back-up..."

"That's not what matters. We're not masked vigilantes, therefore we don't count."

"Does that mean Valerie's my sidekick?"

The three friends looked at each other with mounting horror. After everything that had happened with Dani, Valerie had been much more willing to team up with Phantom.

"No way. Nope. I won't accept that." Sam shook her head with gusto. "New rule: Sidekicks can't have tried to kill the heroes they're sidekicking under."

Danny shrugged, accepting the rule. "What _is_ the most important thing about being a sidekick, anyway?"

Tucker mulled it over for a second before answering. "I guess the whole mentoring thing."

"I've taught you two how to use Fenton weaponry," Danny pointed out.

"I think we're more of a support team," concluded Sam, with a tone that allowed no argument. "Since we're not planning on taking over your mantle when you're dead... Well, dead _-er."_

"You could have just said _'retired'_ ," noted Tucker.

"Like Danny's ever gonna retire," scoffed Sam.

"Point."

Danny rolled his eyes and began to think of a snappy come-back when his ghost sense when off. "Well, they're playing my song. Got to go."

"Pick up some more chips on your way back." Tucker waved lazily, still not looking away from the game.

"What happened to 'support team'?"

"It's multiplayer, we can't pause!"

Sam sighed. "If you need anything, radio us. I've got my Fenton Phones on. Okay?"

Danny grumbled, but smiled as he transformed and flew away.

The sky over Tucker's house was clear, with soft summer winds blowing through the air.

Weird evil laughter echoed across the city.

 _'Oh, it's just Technus,'_ thought Danny, looking around for the ghost. _'I should be able to deal with him on my own.'_

He followed the shrill laughter.

It took a while, but he finally spotted Technus. Oddly enough, the ghost wasn't attacking anyone with flying computers. He was just... floating around, his head turning in every direction.

 _'It looks like he's searching for something.'_

Danny fell back behind a yellow brick wall, narrowly avoiding discovery as the ghost looked his way.

The soft hum of a hover-board came from behind him.

 _'Wonder if Val wants to kill me today or not...'_

"Phantom." Her tone wasn't nearly as hostile as it used to be.

 _'I guess not.'_

Danny turned around, nodding towards the armoured figure. "Hi."

"What are you-"

"Technus is up to something," Danny gestured towards the ghost.

"Well, _duh._ " She looks like him like he's being ridiculous – Technus was _always_ up to something. "So let's hurry up and throw him in a Thermos."

"And I figured it would be better to find out his plans and _then_ stop them. Otherwise he'll just try again later."

Valerie nodded, begrudgingly.

"You wanna help out?"

"Sure," Val hesitated. "... and afterwards I need to talk to you."

That sentence was a bit too similar to 'we need to talk' for comfort, but since they weren't dating (anymore) Danny ignored it and they returned to their ghost hunt.

Technus froze, turning his gaze towards the far horizon. Tiny sparks of green energy flickered around him. He nodded to himself before starting to fly in that direction.

 _'Whatever it was that he was looking for, it looks like he found it.'_

They kept their distance, even as the three of them left Amity Park behind and flew towards Fawcett City.

(Well, it still wasn't the furthest he'd ever travelled to stop Technus – space held that record with a very strong grip – but it was still worrying. Technus wouldn't go far from Amity unless looking for something specific.)

They definitely needed to figure out and stop whatever plot that was going on.

Technus stopped over Amity's neighbouring town, looking around some before continuing his search at a slower pace.

Phantom and Red Huntress closed the distance as Technus landed in a run-down alley. He seemed overly interested in a rusty old photo booth, but that still made more sense than most of the stuff the Box Ghost liked.

 _'He'll take over the world using the power of bad pictures? That's... original, I'll give him that.'_

Technus started laughing again.

 _'OK, this has gone on long enough.'_

Danny looked over at Valerie, unspoken understanding passing between them with a nod.

"The way you're acting, one might think you'd never seen a photo booth before." Danny flew out of hiding, drawing Technus' attention.

"Ah, ghost child. You won't be able to stop me _this_ time."

"Well, this time he's not alone." Valerie flew down from the other side, charging up a large ecto-gun..

Danny smirked and threw a flying punch, using his momentum make it stronger. The two ghosts fell into the photo booth from the impact. The Red Huntress hurried to catch up with them, grabbing onto Technus' arm to wrestle it against his back.

"You can't stop me-" Technus began, shouting in outrage.

Danny was holding onto... something. An arm or a leg, he wasn't overly sure.

Ghostly power not his own surrounded them.

That was all he had time to process before the world turned into bright yellow lights and _movement._

" **Not** **recognized.** **Error**." A computerized voice echoed around them as Danny fell to the ground, letting go of Technus.

To his left, a muted crash signified Valerie botching her landing as well.

"-if you can't catch me!"

Danny pulled himself to his feet, trying to quickly take in his surroundings. Somehow, _somehow,_ they weren't in the alley anymore. Instead they were in a cave, man-made by the looks of it, with pieces of advanced technology scattered through-out. Behind them was a still buzzing and glowing tube of sorts.

"With the power of teleportation, I, _Technus,_ Master of All Things Electronic, will take over the world!"

* * *

"Good work, team. Hit the showers."

The members of the Team visibly relaxed as Batman dismissed them after the debriefing. They had just come back from a short recon mission, which had gone surprisingly well. No weird twists, no big injuries.

Robin smiled widely and threw an arm over Kid Flash's shoulder, a feat in an of itself since KF was more than half a head taller than him.

"Dude, get your armpit away from my face until _after_ we've showered." KF made a face.

Robin pouted, but slowly did as asked.

" **Not** **recognized. Error.** "

Robin's head shot up at the sound, tension returned to his team members. The Zeta Beam system didn't just randomly have errors.

As one, they looked at Batman.

"With the power of teleportation, I, _Technus,_ Master of All Things Electronic, will take over the world!"

Only Robin could tell, but Batman raised an eyebrow at the shout that echoed through the cave.

"Observe only, don't engage until I give the signal."

The Team scattered. Robin immediately headed towards the ventilation shaft.

The rest of the team hid in their own ways, with varying degrees of success. (Artemis was good, M'gann was in camouflage mode, the boys were hopeless.)

However, what was currently in the cave was much more interesting than his teammates attempts at hiding.

The one who had shouted before (Technus. It was nice when the bad guys introduced themselves in their monologuing) was a glowing man with green skin and a mullet. Likely not human, but Robin couldn't identify what it was that he _actually_ was.

Two smaller forms were with him. The white haired boy, also glowing, looked to be close to Wally's age, but it was hard to tell with the girl since her suit covered her whole face.

Robin entertained the idea that the two of them were working together with this Technus character until the girl attacked him with a ray gun mounted to her wrist.

* * *

"You! How did you follow me!?" Technus pointed an accusing finger at Valerie, and she just wanted to roll her eyes at him.

The moment passed, when Technus opened his outstretched hand and used his power over technology to control of Valerie's suit.

"You should know, ghost! You're the one that brought us here!" She struggled to get free, but since he was levitating her she couldn't reach anything she could use.

"Us?" Technus blinked.

Valerie smirked. At least she made a good distraction.

"Forget about me?" Phantom appeared behind the other ghost, one hand glowing with ecto-energy. Before Technus could turn around, he took several blasts to the back. "After all we've been through..." Phantom put a hand to his chest with mock-sadness.

Phantom's attack broke Technus' concentration, making him let go of Valerie's suit. She landed hard, but on her feet, as gravity took hold.

Phantom placed himself between her and Technus, allowing her to catch her breath. "Red, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Phantom." She stepped forward, so they were standing side-by-side. "Let's do this."

Valerie powered up her ecto-gun, while Phantom moved in for close attacks. When he paused his attack, she tackled Technus with her hover-board. Rather than closing the distance, Phantom stayed back and started attacking with ecto-blasts.

Their teamwork was sloppy, but not horrible. They both knew how the other fought, even if they hadn't been working together since that time Skulker kidnapped them. At least they weren't cuffed together this time.

Valerie dodged a flying toaster and ignored Phantom's comment about Technus being 'toast'.

* * *

 _'Ghost... Phantom... Telekinesis and flying...'_

Robin could feel his mounting horror as he realised that the terms probably weren't simple nicknames.

 _'Ghosts are real... I did_ not _want to find out that this way.'_

The three were fighting, with Red showing some interesting skills. She was definitely trained in some form of martial arts, likely _Taekwondo - but he'd need to observe a bit longer to be fully sure, and her suit was as much a fashion statement as Robin's belt._

Phantom was also holding his own. He was... something. If Robin had to hazard a guess, he'd say Phantom had done a _lot_ of street fighting against superpowered opponents. Experience, but no well-honed skill. Like he had been learning on the job, not under a teacher.

On the other side of the fight, Technus was controlling the cave's microwave. He was mostly motionless, making him an easy target as he used various pieces of technology to attack.

It didn't take long for the two teens (if they _were_ teens, Red was masked, and if Phantom was a ghost there was no telling how old he really was) to win. Phantom sucked the injured opponent into what looked like a Thermos, of all things.

Robin gave Batman a flat stare. Batman didn't seem perturbed. Did that make him _turbed?_

"Yes!" Phantom smiled widely. "Gimme five!"

Red regarded him coldly, not making any move to give him the requested high five.

"Come _on,_ Red, don't leave me hanging."

"Don't push it, ghost."

(Robin was still holding out hope on the whole _ghost_ thing.)

"Where are we, anyway?" Phantom reluctantly lowered his arm.

Red shrugged. "Technus said something about teleportation."

Robin looked towards Batman, expecting the signal. Batman shook his head in the negative.

"Wanna leave before whomever lives here comes back and decides we're burglars or supervillains or something?" Phantom was looking around, coming awfully close to spotting Kid Flash.

"That's... not something that actually happens to people."

"Maybe not to 'people', but it's happened to me more than once... and we have technically broken into their cave." Phantom paused for a second, still looking around with obvious suspicion. "Let's just get out of here."

Batman gave the signal.

* * *

The cave was giving Danny the creeps.

Weird technology and the fact that it was an actual _cave_ aside, he could deal with that after growing up a Fenton, it felt like they were being watched.

It was only slightly vindicating to suddenly be surrounded.

(That the people surrounding them were superheroes made it worse, because it upped the odds on them being mistaken for supervillains by at least 45%.)

 _'The Justice League's sidekicks... Aqualad, Robin and Kid Flash I know. The other three have to be new or something. Still, obviously sidekick material... Heeeeeeey. They can help me settle the argument between Sam and Tucker!'_

Danny shook his head to clear it. That had to have been one of the worst ideas he'd ever had. Asking a bunch of sidekicks whether sidekicks counted as heroes would be... _probably_ physically painful.

"Erm... Hi." Valerie seemed to also recognize the masked heroes. "Sorry about your cave." She waved towards the mess of computers and kitchenware. "We were catching a ghost."

"An _evil_ ghost," added Danny quickly. "Not all ghosts are evil."

"We'll just..." Valerie sounded as uncomfortable as Danny felt.

"...be on our way." He finished her sentence, and she nodded in agreement.

Aqualad looked like he wanted to say something in reply, but couldn't make up his mind on exactly what _._

Valerie's hover-board formed under her feet, which made the guy with the Superman emblem on his chest stretch out his hand to grab her. Danny acted faster, taking Valerie's arm and turning them both intangible.

The guy's hand passed right trough them.

He looked at them oddly, before flexing his fingers as if to make sure they were still there.

If Danny had had a beating heart, his pulse would have sped up as _the_ Batman joined the group of heroes.

"Relax, you're not in trouble. Nobody thinks you're supervillains... yet." Batman wasn't smirking, and his voice was completely flat, but Danny felt like he was being mocked.

Valerie elbowed Danny in the side, making him let go of her.

"Right. I'm Red Huntress. This is Phantom. We're ghost hunters."

"Since when are ghosts real?" mumbled Kid Flash.

"You... You don't know?" Valerie didn't bother to hide her shock.

"How can you not know?" Danny frowned. "Back in Amity Park we've got ghost reports after the weather."

"And ghost drills in school."

"I've never even heard of Amity Park." Green Arrow's mini-me shrugged.

Valerie and Danny looked at each other.

"Weird. Not even that time the entire town was pulled into an alternate dimension?"

"Nope."

"Okaaaay... Well, if you could get your teleporter thingie to send us back, that would be great," added Danny, still feeling on edge.

To seemingly everyone's surprise, Batman nodded and motioned for them to follow him towards the tube. "Where to?"

"Fawcett City, but if you've got anything in Illinois we'll take that."

The tube lit up, taking them back to the abandoned alley.

* * *

A meaningful look passed between Batman and Robin.

The rest of the Team was still frozen in shock. Artemis was blinking slowly, staring between Batman and the Zeta Tubes.

' _He just_ let _them go.'_ She frowned. _'Not that trying to stop them would help against someone who can go through walls...'_

Artemis decided that if Batman had thought he'd get away with it, he would have kept the teens for questioning.

Robin smirked. "Sorry, guys, but we'll be going. It seems we have a long night of research ahead of us. To find out if they _are_ supervillains or not, you know."

* * *

"So."

"So?"

"We've got a long flight back home." Danny fidgeted. "Wanna talk about whatever it was you wanted to talk about?"

"Oh, right." Valerie seemed to be looking everywhere _but_ Danny's face. "I won't be hunting you anymore."

"Really?" He tried to hold back his smile. "Not to look a gift horse in the mouth..."

"Ghost hunting isn't as black-and-white as it used to be." Valerie looked pained and conflicted, but there was a hardness in her voice that meant she had made up her mind.

"It never was." Danny couldn't help the dry comment. "But at least you've noticed that. That's more than I can say for most ghost hunters... Heck, it took _me_ a while to realise it, and I'm a ghost!"

Valerie raised an eyebrow at him.

"And for what it's worth, that wasn't my ghost dog. If anything it was your dad's, since he's the one who put it down in the first place..."

She gave him a _look._

"I'm shutting up now."

"You better." She glared at him for a moment, before the expression melted into a warm smile.

They flew the rest of the way in companionable silence.

* * *

 **AN:** Fawcett City is in Wisconsin, which probably makes it the closest superhero city to Amity Park. (Hard to say since we've got no real info on exactly where Amity is, but I'm going with the common fandom assumption of Illinois.) (Sam and Tucker has no idea that Fawcett's hero, Captain Marvel, solves their argument.)

As you've probably noticed, I made Val's second mask more opaque than in canon. Since it's the DC universe, she's gonna need to keep her identity secret.


	2. Denial

**AN:** This chapter is (sort of) a rewrite of an actual Young Justice episode, but don't worry if you're not a fan of rewrites - I won't make a habit of it. I'll only rewrite a chapter when I feel like it'll be different enough from the original version that I'll have actual reason to.

* * *

 **Denial**

Batman's fingers dancing across the keyboard was a steady staccato which broke the silence of the Bat-cave.

He had found frustratingly little about Amity Park, or even ghosts in general.

Batman had suspected it when Phantom mentioned "that time the entire town was pulled into an alternate dimension", because such an event _would_ be widely known unless there was effort put down into a proper cover-up.

 _Somebody_ wanted to keep Amity Park and its ghosts a secret, and everything indicated that this somebody was part of the government.

Batman downed another cup of coffee.

Alfred eyed him disapprovingly.

Robin was sitting on an office chair, spinning it in circles even as he hacked a government database on his wrist-computer.

 _'Neither Phantom nor Red Huntress knew about the cover-up...'_

Batman fixed up a simple proxy, tricking the news site into thinking he was in Amity Park.

Jackpot.

* * *

Phantom floated through the large room.

The green "sky" of the Ghost Zone was visible through a large window, swirling and turning with ectoplasmic energy in ways that was almost reminiscent of clouds in a storm.

The ticking of many clocks was the only sound in the room, almost acting as a heartbeat to the Clock Tower.

The lair's owner stood in front of one of his many viewing pools, watching the image of a man in a golden helmet. It felt familiar, but Danny couldn't place it.

"You wanted something?" Danny leaned back in the air, finding a comfortable sitting position.

Clockwork turned around, pulling out an envelope from within his purple robes. As the fabric shifted, the clock in his chest became visible.

"I need you to deliver a letter."

"What do I look like, the mailman?" Despite his sarcastic protest, Danny took the envelope, looking it over. While there was nothing written on the outside, it was sealed with a drop of red wax stamped with the symbol of a gear. "Who's it for?"

The slight twitch in Clockwork's mouth showed his amusement, it was an expression ill-suited for the child he appeared to be. "And here I thought you weren't the mailman."

Danny rolled his eyes, but didn't comment. Clockwork would always get the last word, no matter how the conversation went.

"I need you to take this to Dr. Fate." Clockwork gestured towards the image behind him, and shifted into his oldest form.

"As in the Justice Society?" Danny's eyes widened as he was finally able to to a name to the face, or well, helmet. "You _know_ him?"

"Fate and Time are often intertwined."

"So you're friends or something?" Danny tried to hide his excitement. The Justice Society were the precursors of the Justice League, aka the idols of his idols.

"Or something."

Danny turned towards the viewing pool again, pensive. For Clockwork to ask this small favour of him... something was fishy. Was there some sort of magical reason the ghost couldn't just _visit_ his old friend? Or was the "or something" supposed to indicate that they had a falling out, and Fate would be more likely to read the letter than listen to Clockwork if he showed up in person?

Danny shrugged. The reason why probably wasn't any of his business, and he _did_ feel like he owed Clockwork a favour (or a hundred)... and he'd get to meet a member of the Justice Society.

"Sure, I'll do it."

* * *

Phantom's comment about being mistaken for a supervillain was making more and more sense the further back in time Batman read.

It seemed like it was only after he'd saved the entire town from the "Ghost King" that Amity Park had started to consider Phantom a hero. Even then, local ghost hunters tried to push the idea that all ghosts were evil. (Batman was reminded of what some people had said about aliens when Superman and Martian Manhunter first made their débuts.)

The two events that Phantom's opponents used as "evidence" of his villainy were... not that incriminating. The "Phantom kidnaps the mayor" incidence was caught on camera, and looked rather more like "the mayor kidnaps Phantom", considering which person was _actually_ trying to escape the hold. However, by all accounts this was not something Mayor Montez should have been capable of doing. Phantom should have been able to slip out of the grasp in the same way he avoided Superboy, by going intangible. Further investigation showed that there was something wrong with Montez's eyes. Another ghost?

The "Phantom robs banks" incidence was uncharacteristic of Phantom's behaviour both before and after the event. That all the stolen goods had ended up in the hands of Frederich "Freakshow" Isak Showenhower, who Phantom had been instrumental in apprehending... Well, Batman felt no reason to suspect that Phantom had been stealing because he'd turned to villainy. Either an undercover operation or mind control. (The malicious smile and red eyes Phantom had been sporting on the security tapes seemed out of place, given the personality he displayed all other times he'd been caught on video. If wouldn't be the first time Batman had come across mind control.) Even if there was more to the story, Phantom checked out as a hero.

Batman was pleased.

* * *

The Tower of Fate was, in Wally's humble opinion, not that impressive.

So what if they used some futuristic technology to make it invisible, that didn't mean _magic_ existed or anything silly like that.

Of course, _M'gann_ believed in magic...

So when the hologram asked what their business was in the Tower, Wally stepped up to tell it they were true believers.

However, he didn't have time to utter a single word.

A chill went up his spine as a small wind blew through the room. Realising that _there were no windows_ , let alone any open ones, Wally turned towards the door and readied himself for an ambush.

The rest of the Team seemed to have similar thoughts, because everyone fell into defensive positions.

The hand of a clock had appeared, floating in the air like it had any business doing so.

Before he could process it, the hand did a full rotation. Where it passed, energy coalesced to form a portal.

Out of the portal stepped Phantom.

The portal behind him disappeared, but he didn't move.

Everyone seemed frozen, not knowing how to react to the unexpected situation. It was only natural that the hologram, which wouldn't understand the mood, would break it.

"The Tower does not recognize you, state your purpose."

Wally noted that Phantom didn't get the nice welcome that possessing a key to the Tower had earned the Team.

"I'm here to deliver a letter to Dr. Fate?" Phantom waved an envelope through the air. "Or at least I thought I was. Starting to suspect that's just an excuse."

* * *

Finding out the identity of the Red Huntress was comparatively easy. All Batman had needed to do was identify the likeliest places someone in Amity Park could get that highly advanced technology – FentonWorks or Axion Labs.

The Fentons had two teenage children. Batman ignored the son completely, but filed away the daughter, Jasmine Fenton, as a possible candidate for Red Huntress' secret identity.

There were precious few teenage girls that had any ties with Axion Labs, aside from some of the scientists kids. Still, he found what he was looking for when he went through Axion's security tapes around the time Red Huntress appeared in her second suit. Valerie Gray, daughter of the head of security, was Red Huntress.

Finding Phantom was harder.

Mostly because there was no telling _when_ the ghost had died. That he had appeared a lot in Amity Park during recent times didn't mean he was a modern ghost. That line of thinking had lead to Batman checking historical records. The results were interesting.

Batman cleared his throat, earning the attention of Robin.

"Looking at the more credible accounts of ghosts during history, I found this." Batman gestured towards the Bat-computer.

Robin's eyes widened as he took in the image that was displayed.

It was an old sketch, almost sloppily drawn. More like a warning than a masterpiece.

Still, there was no mistaking the motif. From the white hair down to the symbol on his chest, it was definitely Phantom.

"Where did you find this?"

"It's from the journal of a witch hunter in Salem. He wrote about using an extinct flower to capture ghosts in service of witches."

"So Phantom is, what, two-three hundred years old?"

"At least."

"But what about his outfit? That doesn't match any historical period... Maybe the eighties."

"It's possible that he has changed it over the years. Fenton-Nightingale's sketch isn't detailed enough to know for sure."

* * *

Danny looked from the old man back to the teenagers. Since they were in their civilian clothing, he wouldn't have recognized the sidekicks if not for Aqualad and the green Martian girl.

"What do you mean, 'just an excuse'?" Aqualad slipped out of his fighting stance. The rest of the Team followed his lead.

"This seems a bit too convenient, that's all." Danny shrugged, not expecting anyone to understand his cryptic comment. "I don't believe in coincidences." At least not when Clockwork was involved.

Aqualad sighed heavily before turning back towards the old man. "We are here to check on Kent Nelson. Red Tornado sent us."

The old man nodded and disappeared in a burst of light. Behind him a door opened of its own.

Danny could have sworn there hadn't been a door there before.

The room they walked into... looked like an Escher painting. It was a huge room with lots of stairs going in impossible angles. The geometry was decidedly non-Euclidian, like it was a place where parallel lines could meet. They took a moment to digest their surroundings before walking up the staircase in front of them.

The green skinned girl walked over to Danny and held out her hand with a bright smile.

"Hi, I'm Miss Martian. M'gann, but you can call me Megan. It's an Earth name, since we're on Earth."

"Phantom, but you already knew that." He shook her hand warily, overwhelmed at her enthusiastic greeting and free use of civilian names... but that sort of thing probably mattered less when you were a shapeshifter, and it wasn't like she'd given him her surname.

Civilian Kid Flash snorted, like somebody had told a bad joke. "Riiiiight, 'Phantom'. The 'ghost'." There was liberal use of finger quotation marks.

Danny blinked. "Yes. I'm a ghost. You've got a problem with that?"

"How about the fact that ghosts don't exist!?" Kid Flash stopped, turning around to face Danny. Since he'd been walking in front of Danny in the stairs, Danny had to look up to face him.

Danny floated so that he was slightly taller than Kid Flash.

"I'm pretty sure I exist, but let's not get existential." He meant it as a joke, but most of the humour was lost since he grumbled out the words between clenched teeth.

"Oh yeah? I bet you're just some guy with ghost-like powers, or futuristic technology, who decided to pretend to be a ghost in order to scare people!"

"I never wanted to scare anyone!"

"Then why pretend to be a ghost!?" Kid Flash sounded like he thought he'd won the argument.

Danny didn't break eye contact as he slowly pulled off one of his gloves. "Take my pulse."

Kid Flash roughly pulled Danny's hand closer, putting two fingers on his wrist.

A few seconds passed in silence.

Kid Flash moved his fingers, trying in vain to find a pulse. He lost the starting contest as his gaze locked onto Danny's wrist.

"You're not going to find it, you know."

Kid Flash moved his fingers again, refusing to give up.

"For what it's worth, I can hear from over here that his heart isn't beating."

Both Danny and Kid Flash turned around to look at the teen with the Superman symbol in his t-shirt.

"That proves nothing!"

"It proves I'm not alive."

"You're probably a robot or something!"

"Can we _please_ just go on already?" Archer girl had her arms crossed over her chest, fingers drumming an impatient rhythm against her arm.

"This ain't over," mumbled Kid Flash as they continued up the stairs.

The silence got awkward quickly after that.

" _Soooo..._ I know Miss Martian, Aqualad and Flash Junior, but who are the rest of you?"

"I'm Artemis."

"Superboy."

"It's _Kid_ _Flash._ "

Danny smirked at the predictable reaction, pulling on his glove again.

"Whatever you say, Junior."

* * *

Valerie was having an off day.

Her work at the Nasty Burger had _somehow_ been more unbearable than usual. It was 85% the customers' fault.

The remaining 15% were due to her manager.

As such, she was 100% ready to take a nap as soon as she got home.

A nine hour nap.

Valerie bit back a yawn as she unlocked the door to her apartment.

She must have fallen asleep already, because she was obviously dreaming.

Valerie fought to keep her face neutral and her voice even. "Daddy, what are Batman and Robin doing here?"

* * *

"Do any of you get the feeling we're not gonna find Kent Nelson?" Artemis looked out at the empty stairs around them. "I don't think he's home."

"Isn't that him?" Danny pointed his thumb towards the small group at the top of the stairs.

There where three people, one of which looked like the hologram from downstairs. Notably, he was handcuffed.

"Abra Kadabra!" Kid Flash growled, before disappearing in a blur of motion. A second later he appeared with the old man slung over his shoulders, fireman style.

Danny reached over and phased the cuffs off the man, as Kid Flash put him down and the rest of the young heroes prepared for battle.

"Thank you." Kent Nelson rubbed his wrists, nose scrunching up at the pain. His voice was hoarse, like he'd been screaming a lot.

Nelson waved his hand, and a cane flew into it as a set of stairs connected to the ones they were on.

 _'How Hogwarts of them.'_

Over by Abra Kadabra, his companion was following a different path that seemed to lead to where Nelson wanted to go.

"We need to get the Helmet of Fate before Klarion does."

"Riiight, of course." Kid Flash looked over at Danny, to see if he was following the logic.

Danny shrugged and hurried to catch up with Nelson, who was climbing the stairs.

After a moment of hesitation, while looking at his teammates fighting Abra Kadabra, Kid Flash followed too. It must have been the urgency in Nelson's voice that convinced him.

At the top of the stairs was a giant bell, which glowed with golden light as Klarion touched it and disappeared.

Danny blinked away the spots from his vision as he, Nelson and Kid Flash followed.

There was a blinding flash of gold. Danny could feel the chill of the outside air before his vision cleared enough to tell where they were. When he opened his eyes again, they were on the roof.

The Helmet of Fate floated above them.

Something ghostly in Danny's core twitched at the sight, and he stopped to stare as Kent Nelson and Kid Flash approached it.

Nelson had raised his hand to take the Helmet when he was struck in the chest by a red energy blast.

He stumbled and fell, but Kid Flash caught him before he could his the ground.

Danny's attention went to their attacker. Klarion and his cat were approaching the helmet from the other side of the roof.

Before they could close the distance, Nelson raised his cane and uttered something that had to be Arcane Words of Power. With capitalisation.

A golden sphere surrounded Nelson, Kid Flash and the helmet, just in time to stop another attack from Klarion.

Danny gulped as he realised that he, himself, was stranded _outside_ the bubble. With the angry dark magic boy. And his cat.

"At least I don't have to tell him to get one," mumbled Danny to himself.

Klarion attacked the bubble once again, not seeming to notice (or care) about Danny. Unlike a ghost's stable ecto-blasts, his red energy flickered and moved like fire.

Danny felt his Ghost Sense go off. There was a sinking feeling in his stomach as he realised that meant that Kent Nelson had died.

Then the cat made a noise, and apparently that was enough to draw the witch boy's attention to the ghost boy.

There was a second of awkward silence, where they just looked at each other.

Klarion looked confused. "A ghost? What would a ghost-"

Danny shrugged and threw an ecto-blast at Klarion, who put up a shield just in time.

"Do you expect ghosts to be logical? For all you know, my Obsession could be fancy headgear." Danny pulled his fingers through his hair. "Though, to be fair, if I were I'd probably be wearing a hat or something."

He dropped his musings as he was forced to dodge a couple of angry energy blasts.

As in, the blasts themselves radiated anger.

 _'Magic is weird.'_

"No, I don't expect ghosts to 'make sense'." Klarion's voice took on a mocking tone at the last words. "They're chaotic, and that's what I like about them... but _you..."_

Danny stiffened at the implication that he was different from other ghosts. He did _not_ need a murderous magician to know his secret.

"I've sensed something like you before." Klarion had a hungry look in his eyes, and a smug smirk threatening to break out on his lips.

 _'Is he... talking about Vlad?'_

"But stronger," added Klarion as an afterthought, a finger tapping his chin.

 _'He's talking about Vlad.'_

"Meow."

"You're right, Teekl. I don't have time for distractions. I'm here for the Helmet of Fate."

"I won't let you."

"You think you can stop me?" The mocking tone was back.

"Don't know 'til I try!" Danny punctuated the sentence with an ecto-ray.

Klarion responded with a red ray, which hit Danny's green in a clash of light. Danny pushed himself, but the point where the two energies met crept slowly towards him. Finally, he couldn't keep it up and the energy pushed him away.

Danny hit the golden sphere hard, the impact and Klarion's continued attack breaking the shield.

The civilian dressed Kid Flash looked at Danny with wide eyes.

Danny gave him a feeble thumbs-up, but it was all he could do to not pass out from the pain and exhaustion. Klarion wasn't a light hitter.

Kid Flash's eyes hardened into determination, and he put on the Helmet of Fate.

* * *

Valerie sat down in the sofa, to hide how her knees were buckling underneath her. "You want _me_ to join this team?"

Batman nodded.

She turned towards her dad. "And _you're_ okay with this?"

"Valerie..." He leaned over and placed his hand over both of hers. "You know I'd prefer it if you gave this whole thing up. I want you to be safe, but... I know I won't convince you to quit. At least this way, you'll get training under people who know what they're doing."

Valerie was about to protest, to say 'I know what I'm doing', but she stopped herself.

If her experience with the ghost girl, Dani 'with an i', had taught her anything, it was that she _didn't_ know what she was doing. She'd almost _killed_ a human being. A little girl.

And if ghosts could be human, everything she knew about ghosts could be false.

Where the ghosts emotionless beings who only _imitated_ emotion? There was no way to tell for certain, from an outside perspective, but as soon as she was willing to look for it... Their emotions didn't seem fake. They were too complex, to real.

And if ghosts could feel, if they were sapient, she had done and threatened to do some horrible things. Mostly to Phantom, who'd only ever been trying to help people.

If ghosts were people, for a wider definition of 'person' than she'd ever wanted to accept, Red Huntress wasn't a hero.

It hurt to admit it.

She wouldn't belong on the Justice League's secret ops team.

"You've already met the other members." Robin picked up on her hesitation, but seemingly misunderstood the source of it.

"No, you see... I'm not..."

 _'I'm not a hero. I'm just some kid who blamed every single ghost for what a dog did, and tried to get revenge on them all.'_

Valerie shook her head to clear it. She wasn't weak, she wouldn't let her doubt stop her from doing what was right.

Even if she wasn't sure of what that was.

Sure, she'd made a mistake. Everybody made mistakes. Phantom's words from last night echoed in her ears.

 _'Heck, it took_ me _a while to realise it, and I'm a ghost!'_

If Phantom could make the mistake of thinking that all ghosts were evil, then it wasn't a hard mistake to make... Though it probably told her a whole lot about Phantom's self-image that she hadn't wanted to know.

She just needed to reverse her usual strategy of 'shooting first, asking questions never'. Make sure the people she was shooting actually deserved it, on an individual basis.

Joining a group of people who already had that habit ingrained in them could help.

Even if Red Huntress wasn't a hero, she could become one.

Maybe it would be her chance for redemption, for what she did and what she _almost_ did.

Valerie nodded to herself, confident with her decision.

"I'll join your Team."

Batman nodded, while Robin started rambling about details they needed to fix – like getting her a designation on the Zeta Tubes.

"Do you know where we can find Phantom?" Batman interrupted his protégé, who didn't seem to mind.

Valerie shook her head. "He just shows up when there's a ghost attack. I don't know where he spends the rest of his time."

"We'll look for him before we leave, but if we don't find him, let him know I want to talk with him the next time you run into him."

"Sure."

* * *

They gathered outside of the Tower. Kid Flash was holding the Helmet, looking torn between keeping it and throwing it as far away from himself as he possibly could.

Danny was feeling drained, but mostly unharmed. Dr. Fate had dealt with Klarion, and then released Wally from wearing the Helmet.

"I never got to give Dr. Fate the letter," mumbled Danny to himself as the civilian-dressed sidekicks boarded an almost invisible spaceship.

"Do you need a ride?" Asked M'gann, waking Danny from his musings.

"I guess. I don't even know _where_ we are."

"Salem."

Danny couldn't suppress his whole-bodied shudder. "I was never planning on coming back here."

"Why, what happened?" Kid Flash had that suspicious look in his eyes again, like he was looking for a way to restart their argument.

Who was Danny to deny him that?

"It turns out, people who burn witched on stakes aren't too fond of ghosts either." Danny got on the ship, Massachusetts was a bit too far in his current state of exhaustion.

"You are not a ghost." Kid Flash said it with slightly less conviction than before he'd put on the Helmet of Fate. "Ghost and magic don't exist!"

"Wait, what?" Danny blinked. "Magic has nothing to do with it."

"Huh?"

"Ghosts are a recorded scientific phenomena. I'm an ectoplasmic entity built upon a post-mortem conciousness. It's ecto-biology, not _magic_." Danny rolled his eyes at the very idea, as the image of his parents drawing magical runes all over their basement popped into his mind.

"Really?" There was hope in Kid Flash's voice, and his previous hostility practically melted away.

"Really."

Kid Flash smiled.

 _'I am so confused right now.'_

Danny was about to question the turn of events when Kid Flash's cell phone rang.

"It's Robin," he informed them after looking at the screen.

A wave of excitement went through the group.

Kid Flash picked up. "Hi."

There was a pause, and everyone except Superboy strained to hear what was said at the other side of the line.

"So _that's_ where you were..."

Danny found himself mimicking the others in inconspicuously leaning closer to the phone. All of them jumped as KF laughed loudly.

"Well, of course you didn't find him. He's been with us the entire day." Kid Flash's eyes darted towards Danny.

Danny got a creeping suspicion they were talking about him.

"I'll tell him." Kid Flash closed the phone. "Batman wants to talk to you."

Danny's first instinct was to run.

After all, he _was_ wanted by the government. Even though that probably wasn't as official as the GIW had made it out to be. (Danny _had_ wondered how he'd ever become public enemy number one when people like Poison Ivy or the Brain existed.) The Justice League worked for the government. Or with the government. Danny wasn't quite sure.

 _However,_ Clockwork had sent him there. Clockwork would have known this would happen, it was probably the reason he had sent Danny to begin with.

If there was one being Danny had complete trust in, it was Clockwork.

"Sure, I'd love to meet the Bat... Do you know what he wants?"

Complete trust in Clockwork or not, Batman was intimidating.

Kid Flash just smirked and put a finger over his mouth in a hushing gesture. "If I tell, I'll ruin the surprise."

Danny sent questioning glances towards the rest of the Team.

Superboy looked bored, while M'gann was his opposite and filled with enthusiastic interest. Her eyes practically sparkled.

Aqualad and Artemis shared a look and both leaned back in their seats, obviously having figured out what was going on and perfectly happy to not tell Danny.

Danny fidgeted in his seat.

What if he was misunderstanding Clockwork's intentions? What if Clockwork just wanted him to meet the sidekicks, and then escape? Clockwork _did_ believe in letting Danny learn things the hard way. What if this was another lesson? What if-

 _'I can't do this.'_

The image of Guys in White ambushing him, helped out by his childhood heroes, played on repeat in his head.

 _'Nope. I'm out.'_

Clockwork's letter slipped from his pocket when he stood up, and as he stumbled to catch it he accidentally broke the wax seal.

 _'Okay, no need to panic. Clockwork can see the future. He would know I wouldn't be able to deliver this to Dr. Fate, and he would know I'd open it. It's probably meant for me to read.'_

Feeling slightly guilty for reading a letter that might not be meant for him, Danny opened the envelope.

There was a single paper inside, which he pulled out with only slightly shaking fingers.

 _Black is the opposite of white.  
\- CW_

Danny frowned at the paper. Of course, it just had to be a riddle. As for what it meant... It was surprisingly straightforward. Batman, the Dark Knight who wore all black, wasn't allied with the Guys in White.

As far as calming riddles went, it was the most efficient one Danny had ever read.

* * *

Danny couldn't help but stare as Miss Martian landed the bioship in a secret hangar in mountain. From the outside, the closed door had been practically invisible.

"Welcome to Mount Justice, again." Miss Martian smiled at him.

Danny smiled back, though his smile wasn't nearly as wide as M'gann's.

They left the garage-hangar hybrid and entered the rest of the cave.

When it wasn't under ghost attack, it was surprisingly homely. They walked through a kitchen, which had to be where Technus had gotten that microwave, and entered a dark room filled with holo-screens.

Inside were Batman, Robin, Red Tornado, and to Danny's shock, Valerie.

The Team greeted them, while Danny unintentionally hung back.

"Phantom." Batman turned his full attention towards Danny.

 _'I can do this. If I can handle mom talking about dissecting ghosts and dad waving guns designed to kill me around during dinner, I can talk to the Batman.'_

"Hi?"

"I'd like to offer you a place on this team."

Several thoughts went through Danny's head. None of them formed fully before being discarded for the next, so he settled on asking the big question. "Seriously?"

"Yes." Batman's voice was a perfect deadpan.

Danny blinked. There were a hundred butterflies dancing tango in his stomach.

The Team looked on with poorly concealed interest.

"Sure." Danny smiled. "I'd love to."

* * *

 **AN** : Having chapters with consistent length? What is sort of nonsense is that? Yeah, heh. Since I'm making my chapters mostly self-contained "episodes", I won't put any energy into making them all the same length. As you can tell from this chapter being nearly twice as long as the last one.

 **Reply to coldblue:**

1) This isn't a shipping fic. Making Danny and Val get back together would take focus away from what I actually want this fic to be about. I wasn't fond of all the romance in Young Justice canon either.

2) Danny is going to use ectoplasmic shields and bolts a lot, but he does that in canon too.

3) Valerie training under Wildcat is the best idea I've read all year. I was just planning on having her train under Black Canary, but you changed my mind. However, I don't think Val has the patience for detective work, and putting her and the Question in the same room is sure to end horribly. (Unless maybe if it's Montoya as Question. I don't know enough about her personality to say anything regarding that.) Considering how Valerie is a non-powered hero in a DC-verse, she will have to pick up some useful skills, but I'm not making her a bat.

Thanks for your suggestions.


	3. Pieces

**Pieces**

The sun shone down on Amity Park.

Valerie smiled as she looked at the old telephone booth. It didn't look like anything special, with glass so dirty you couldn't even see within it from outside. One of the pans was cracked, the brokenness looking like a spider's web.

When she slipped inside, careful to not touch more of it than necessary, she made a face as she breathed in. It stank of piss. There were pieces of yellowed paper littering the floor.

The phone booth lit up, with a bright light very atypical of an abandoned payphone.

" **Recognized. Red Huntress, B08.** "

Batman had wasted no time in installing a Zeta tube in Amity Park.

The cave in Mount Justice was filled with the smell of cookies. Valerie followed her nose into the kitchen.

The Team was hanging around in their civvies, lounging on kitchen chairs or, in the case of Superboy, standing by the walls.

Miss Martian levitated the cookies out of the oven, while Phantom floated next to her.

"Oh, they're perfect." Miss Martian inspected the cookies with a smile. "Thank you for the help."

Phantom smiled back, one hand coming up to rub at the back of his neck.

"You bake?" Valerie frowned. Something about the image of Phantom, who despite wearing an apron had some flour on his nose, felt wrong. Like a broken mirror. Of all the things she had ever imagined him doing with his free time, baking had never come up.

Though, to be fair, he probably didn't go around stealing candy from children.

"Well, yeah." Phantom shrugged. "Sweets are serious business in my family."

Valerie could only stare in silence.

 _'I don't really know him, do I?'_

Before Valerie could consider that further, Kid Flash swooped in as a blur of motion and stole a cookie.

"So, now that we're all here. I think introductions are in order." Aqualad stood up and offered Valerie his hand. "I am Kaldur'ahm. My friends call me Kaldur."

"Valerie." She shook his hand firmly.

"I'm M'gann, or Megan." Miss Martian smiled widely.

"Wally." Kid Flash waved, trying to steal another cookie without Phantom, who was glaring at him suspiciously, noticing.

"Artemis."

"Robin. Batman doesn't want me sharing my civilian name." That explained the use of sunglasses indoors.

"Superboy." The word was grunted, but she could make it out. Did Superman not want him telling them his real name either?

"I'm... Phantom." Phantom waved and smiled, but there was something odd in the way he looked at Valerie. Like he'd been meaning to say something else, but didn't because she was there. He was probably thinking about how she usually called him 'ghost' or 'ghost boy'. Well, if they were going to be on a team together she could play nice and try to call him by his chosen moniker.

"You didn't introduce yourself before I got here?" Valerie crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.

"I was _baking._ " Phantom seemed to think that was a perfectly valid reason. "M'gann was overworking the dough, so I figured I'd help her out. Especially since I already introduced myself the first time we were here."

 _'Nope. I don't know Phantom at all.'_

It was like he was an actual person, or something.

"You don't have a civilian name?" Superboy turned towards Phantom with badly hidden curiosity. For the first time since Valerie had first met him, Superboy wasn't scowling.

Val couldn't hold back her disbelieving snort. "Of course not, he's a _ghost._ "

Phantom glared at her. "What Valerie is _trying_ to say, is that it's common to forget your name when you die. And it's not just your name, but pretty much everything that makes you _you._ "

The Team shared concerned looks.

"Some remember more than others." Phantom shrugged, but there was something guarded about his posture.

"And you?" There was something intense in Superboy's eyes.

"I remember more than most."

"So you're really a ghost?" Artemis' voice was much softer than Valerie would have expected from her. There was almost an reverent timbre to it.

"I thought we went over this in the Tower of Fate?" Phantom smirked.

"H- How did you die?" Artemis squirmed slightly as she asked.

Phantom's eyes hardened. His reply was immediate, and accompanied by a smile that was more a baring of teeth than anything else. "Wanna talk about _your_ most traumatic experience? The most _you've_ ever been hurt?"

"Point taken." Artemis looked like she'd bitten into something sour. "Sorry."

"It's fine."

"So, Valerie." Val suddenly found herself in much too close proximity to Wally, who'd used superspeed for all the ten steps that it took to cross the room. "What's your deal?"

She backed away, hiding her discomfort. "Me? I'm... human. No powers, just some great gear."

Great gear, indeed. In some ways, her suit was like a superpower, because she couldn't take it off. She could feel it buzzing beneath her skin, a constant reminder that it was there.

With a single thought, she let her gloves reconstruct themselves. Since she was wearing a sleeveless top, the way the parts came from seemingly nowhere was clearly visible.

Robin gave a low whistle. "Who made that thing?"

"Technus."

"That ghost you guys were fighting? Why would he-"

"It's a long story," answered Phantom, to Valerie's relief. She _really_ didn't want to tell the Team about the details of her ghost hunting. Not when ghosts were people.

Before anyone could add further comment, Batman appeared in the doorway. "Team, get to the briefing room."

Robin and Wally grinned at each other. "Mission!"

Valerie followed the others as they left the kitchen.

The briefing room was, big, empty and dark. Several holographic screens hung in the air, displaying photographs, satellite images, grainy surveillance tapes and what looked like a shipping log.

"Lex Luthor has sponsored an archaeological excavation outside of Amity Park." Batman looked like he was frowning behind his mask. "However, Luthor has never shown any interest in archaeology, aside from when there's been kryptonite involved, and there are too many guards for this to be a normal dig."

Every single member of the Team cast a more or less subtle glance at Superboy, who scowled at them.

"This is a recon mission, nothing more. Superboy's ability to sense kryptonite might come in handy, if that is what they're looking for."

Valerie felt like it probably wasn't about meteor rocks. That close to Amity, it _had_ to be ghost related. She spared Phantom a look, and he met her eye. He seemed to agree with her, if the small wrinkle between his eyebrows was anything to go by. He shrugged, the motion hardly noticeable, and she nodded. There was no reason to speak up about suspicions, since the entire point of the mission was to find out what was going on.

* * *

The teenagers filed into the Martian Bio-ship.

Robin observed Phantom from the corner of his eye, as the ghost boarded with a relaxed grace. Robin made sure to take a seat next to the ghost.

It was time to initiate Operation Find-Out-Which-Time-Period-Phantom-Is-From, aka Operation History. Because Operation FOWTPPIF was unpronounceable.

Miss Martian sat down in the pilot's seat, and they were off.

Phantom's full attention were to the window, and a small smile was playing on his lips.

 _'So he likes flying. Not useful, but relatable.'_

Robin filed away the information, while considering how to breach the subject he was really interested in. Perhaps the indirect approach was needed?

"You changed your suit." Robin turned around his seat to face the ghost.

"I guess I did." Phantom looked down on himself like he'd only just noticed. The added padding on his shoulders and knees, as well as the slight shift in material to something more durable to stress were small changes, sure, but it was hard to believe Phantom hadn't paid any attention to his suit. "It's your fault, by the way."

"What?" Robin tilted his head. The sentiment was echoed by the others in the ship, who didn't bother pretending they weren't listening in.

"A ghost's physical form is based on self-image. It's held together by ectoplasm, power and will. Those are the only things that limit a ghost's appearance." Phantom took on a lecturing tone, like he was reciting something someone had told him. Probably more than once.

Phantom scratched his neck as he thought about how to explain it to his obviously confused audience. After a few seconds of contemplation, he phased through his seatbelt and flew up into the air. While there, his legs melted away and became almost smoke-like before twisting into a tail. He looked kind of like the archetypical genie.

"My spectral tail," shrugged Phantom. "I know I don't need legs when I'm flying, and I'm more aerodynamic this way, so I can do this without much fuzz."

Robin blinked silently.

"Most ghosts can't shapeshift, however. We're... unchanging. Death leaves us with very rigid self-images, even if it isn't quite what we looked like alive." Something about the way Phantom's lip twitched made Robin think he was missing an inside joke. "I only know one guy who can turn into whatever he wants, but that's because he considers himself first and foremost an actor."

"I see." Robin nodded to himself. "You consider yourself a superhero, but the way you think a superhero is supposed to dress changed when you met us. When you got to see us up close."

"Pretty much, yes."

"What did you base your image on before, _the_ _Fentons?"_ Valerie raised an eyebrow, her tone teasing. The Fentons obviously weren't known for their good fashion sense.

Phantom blushed a bright green and sunk back into his seat. The seatbelt buttoned itself around him.

* * *

Danny was relaxed. He was almost surprised by _how_ relaxed he was. He never expected to find himself in the company of other superheroes, at least not as anything other than a suspected supervillain to be turned over to the GiW.

 _'Maybe real life_ isn't _like my deepest, darkest fears.'_

Even Robin's continued questioning didn't put Danny on high alert.

"As a ghost, you must have seen a lot of cool history, right?" Robin leaned forward in his seat.

 _'How are those two related?'_ Danny blinked. _'Cool history... Well, the fire of Rome was anything but_ cool... _and I just made a pun about nearly an entire city's worth of people dying. Still, it's not exactly_ too soon _to joke about it...'_

Deciding very quickly to not reveal his involvement with any historical catastrophes, Danny smiled as he remembered something _nice_ he could tell his new friends. Plasmius' theft of the Infi-map had led to one only great experience, but Danny took what he could get.

"I was there when the Wright brothers demonstrated their plane." Danny couldn't help his awestruck tone, or the smile that spread across his face. "It was _great._ "

"You're into science?" Wally started smiling.

"Mostly just aerodynamics."

"I wasn't thinking of just big historical events. More like... daily life stuff. We know very little about things like that, since it wasn't written down, but someone who _lived_ it..." Robin trailed off.

"I guess." Danny frowned.

 _'Why would... He's trying to figure out when I died?'_

Admitting that 'yeah, I died two years ago' would only lead to Robin looking into missing people from that time. He'd come up empty, but it might lead to him realising the truth.

"I _do_ know a lot about medieval times." That was mostly Dora's fault, but he wasn't lying. If Robin wanted to figure out Danny's real identity, there was no reason to make it easy for him.

Wally gave a low whistle at Danny's implied age. "Ever been put it the stocks?"

Danny couldn't help the way he blanched. The Fenton Stockades that his dad had built in the basement were... still better than the iron maiden.

"You were!?" Wally grinned, stifling a laugh.

"Once or twice..." He scratched his chin with a single finger.

"That's barbaric." Valerie scowled.

"It's not that different from a time out." Danny shrugged. "Just a little more uncomfortable."

Nobody seemed to agree with him.

* * *

Finally, they arrived outside of Amity Park. It was a mostly open area, close to the railroad tracks. It seemed familiar, but Danny couldn't put his finger on why.

"Miss Martian, link us up." Aqualad took charge with a serious attitude, and a military-like delivery.

 _'Everyone online?'_

Danny blinked as M'gann's voice echoed through his head. _'What the-'_

 _'Martian telepathy. It's how we usually communicate during missions. This way, no one can hack into our radio,'_ explained Robin.

Valerie looked uncomfortable, but nodded seriously.

Danny shrugged.

 _'Phantom.'_ Aqualad turned towards Danny. _'I am unfamiliar with ghost powers. Can you turn invisible?'_

Danny answered by blinking out of the visible spectrum.

 _'Good. Miss Martian, Phantom, Robin. You will investigate the excavation. The rest of us will keep watch from outside.'_

Everyone nodded, and Miss Martian performed a passable imitation of invisibility. She was little more than a small outline of motion, not unlike hot air on a summer's day.

 _'Camouflage mode,'_ she explained.

 _'Not bad.'_ Danny grinned, even though he was much too invisible for anyone to see it.

* * *

Robin slipped between the shadows, keeping his focus on listening for the telltale sound of footsteps.

Still, a small part of him was mulling over what he'd just learned. Phantom was from the middle ages. That was over 200 years older than he and Batman had originally assumed.

Well, it wasn't _that_ surprising. Not really. Ghosts not ageing was to be expected.

Still, it was odd. Phantom's accent was definitely American. If Phantom was a medieval ghost, he would be European.

Though, to be fair, English wasn't necessarily his native tongue. And even if it was, Middle English was closer to Icelandic than modern English. Somewhere along the line, Phantom must have picked up the modern version of the language. If he did so in the States, that could explain the accent.

Still, there was something about the situation that felt wrong. Robin couldn't put his finger on it, but there was some inconsistency he was missing.

 _'Note to self, find out Phantom's native language.'_

However, Phantom's reaction to getting asked about the stockades definitely wasn't faked. Whenever he had grown up, that had been a thing. Maybe Robin was just over-thinking it.

Robin checked for guards, and then slipped inside one of the large tents set up to give the archaeologists a reprieve from the blazing summer sun.

Knowing Luthor, that the tents also served to hide whatever it was they were doing was on purpose.

The tent hid a large, shallow hole in the ground. It was square, and carefully dug out. The bottom of it was made up of several distinct platforms, where the ground was level.

If the dig was a front for something, it was a really well made one.

Robin couldn't see anything interesting in the ditch. He risked taking out a flashlight and quickly shining it around. Nothing.

Whatever they were looking for, it seemed like there were no convenient pieces still lying around to be discovered.

* * *

Artemis was tense and bored, a horrible combination by all accounts.

She had a small monocular. Not a pair, just a single one. It had originally been meant to go on a rifle. She'd found it in a drawer at home and decided to keep it, even though it probably belonged to her dad. She would have thrown it away, but it was much too practical.

Artemis lay on a small hill, hidden in the long, yellow grass. It was uncomfortable, and the dry grass was scratchy against the exposed skin on her midriff and arms. It smelled of dust, if she breathed in too deeply, close as she was to the ground, she'd end up coughing.

The tiny monocular allowed her to keep a watchful eye on the closest road, if one could call it that. It was mostly just worn-in tire tracks in the grass. In some places there was gravel, but that looked like it was an abandoned project. The excavation wouldn't last long enough to justify making a semi-proper road to it.

When her arms started to ache from maintained the position, Artemis shifted slightly make herself more comfortable, while still remaining hidden in the grass.

It was at that point that a _tank_ rolled down the dirt road.

Well, it was _probably_ wrong to call it a tank, but it was an armed vehicle. Metal plating on the outside, visible unidentifiable weaponry.

Whomever was driving the thing had no respect for the laws of men or physics.

 _'We've got trouble'_ Artemis sent out the thought through the mind link, while keeping her eye on the vehicle. _'There's a...'_ She couldn't think of a word to adequately describe the vehicle. _'Somebody is on the road I'm watching, and they're armed. Heavily.'_

 _'Artemis, remain where you are,'_ ordered Aqualad. _'Robin, Miss Martian, Phantom, wrap things up in there. Superboy, listen in on the new arrivals.'_

Artemis brought up her monocular again, to watch as two people jumped out of the tank.

Three of the guards hurried out to meet them, their body language hurried and uneasy.

Maybe the heavily armed strangers weren't expected, like she'd originally thought.

* * *

Danny shivered as his Ghost Sense went off.

And then he shivered again as he realised exactly who the "heavily armed" people Artemis had seen were.

 _'They said they're following a ghost.'_ Superboy all but confirmed Danny's fear. _'Phantom?'_

Because _of course_ his parents would follow some ghost out into the middle of nowhere in the dead of night.

 _'It's not me. They wouldn't be able to detect me all the way from Amity Park...'_ He had to stop himself from explaining how Fenton Ghost Detectors worked. _'I think I just sensed one, though. They probably chased it all the way here. Red?'_

There was a moment of silence as Valerie checked her computer. _'Directly north of you. Just one, weak ecto-signature.'_

 _'I'm gonna check it out.'_

 _'Do not engage. Our mission requires us to not be discovered,'_ ordered Aqualad

 _'I'm just gonna see if it's anyone I know.'_

He flew intangibly through the fabric of the tent he'd been investigating. When he didn't see anything outside, he flew into the next tent.

It was filled with tables. On the tables were trays filled with dirt, as well as some tools lying around haphazardly. In the corner was a pile of crates.

Flying over the crates and laughing "evilly" was the Box Ghost.

 _'Why am I not surprised?'_

* * *

Miss Martian had chosen to investigate one tent in particular because it was so much smaller than the others, which made it stand out. When she got inside, she found an office. Two tables and three chairs, along with an abandoned laptop and a tray filled with what looked like broken glass stuck in pieces of dirt. There was more glass than dirt, though. Next to the tray was a set of brushes and a very tiny spade.

For a second, the glass seemed to glow red. Then she blinked, and it was as if nothing had happened.

Deciding that she had seen enough, Miss Martian floated closer to the tray. She could take a piece of the glass, and have Batman analyse it later.

She was reaching out towards the tray when she heard heavy footsteps. It was only barely that she had the time to float to hide near the top of the tent. Camouflage mode wasn't invisible, but as long as the person who had just entered the tent didn't look up, she would be fine. Still, she was effectively trapped inside the tent. Density shifting was well above her skill level, so she couldn't exit the tent unnoticed.

The person who had entered was a broad-shouldered, ridiculously tall man in an ill-fitting suit. In sharp contrast with the money saved on his wardrobe, the man had a state-of-the-art cellphone pressed to his ear.

"There are people snooping around here, sir... Yes, sir. I heard you the first time, _sir_." The man sneered, and unceremoniously poured the entire contents of dirt and glass from the tray into a briefcase. He clicked it shut and handcuffed it to himself, all while rolling his eyes at the person on the other end of the phone. You didn't need to be a telepath to feel his irritation rolling off him in waves.

 _'They are clearing out. A guy took everything they've found and put it in a briefcase.'_

 _'Did you see what was in it?'_ Aqualad's voice sounded in her head.

M'gann fidgeted, even though none of her teammates could see her. _'Not up close. I'm not sure what it was.'_

 _'Then we'll need to access that briefcase.'_

 _'I can create a distraction, if you want,'_ offered Phantom. _'The Box Ghost and the Fentons are... loud and destructive. It'll just take a push in the right direction, and nobody will know we were involved.'_

He neglected to mention that if he didn't push the situation into outright chaos, that the ghost hunters were sure to notice his presence on their detectors. The distraction wasn't _just_ for getting a hold of whatever was in the briefcase.

 _'Give me a distraction and I'll fix the rest.'_ Robin's mental voice sounded like he was enjoying himself a bit too much.

 _'Do it.'_

* * *

Danny cracked his knuckles.

The hard part would be to get the chaos to include the guy with the briefcase that Miss M had mentioned.

Oh well, he would just have to wing it.

Despite promising Aqualad... Well, a lot of things, really... Despite all that _,_ Danny began his plan by popping into visibility with a ridiculous grin. "Hi, Boxy!"

"Phantom! You will not capture me in your cylindrical container!"

"Sure I will." He didn't let down on the smirking. After all, the entire point was to out-irritate the most irritating ghost in existence.

"Beware! For I will rule this world with the power of BOXES! And the occasional bubble-wrap!"

"Suuuure you will." Being annoying shouldn't be this fun.

Boxy responded by sending five glowing crates towards Danny.

He dodged, and the crates flew through the thin fabric of the tent, alerting anyone to the fight.

Danny turned invisible just as his parents pushed aside the guards and swooped in, ecto-guns ready.

That wouldn't do. They were supposed to fight _outside_ of the tent.

The chaos escalated further as the three armed guards followed the Fentons into the tent, trying to get them away from the excavation.

Danny tripped one of them.

Guard number two crashed into guard number three, who crashed into Maddie just as she was about to shoot the Box Ghost. Instead, her shot hit the tent, which promptly began collapsing.

Danny had to stop himself from laughing out loud.

Being pretty much the only person who hadn't fallen over, Jack Fenton displayed some uncharacteristic common sense by pushing everyone out of the tent before it crashed down on them.

This brought the continuing pandemonium exactly where it needed to be, as the ghost hunters pulled themselves together and started to chase after the Box Ghost.

The guards were less used to the kind of situation that erupted whenever the Fentons were around. Consequently, they needed a few extra seconds before they started their chase anew.

If Danny took the opportunity to phase out all the bullets from their machine guns, well, they were none the wiser.

He wasn't about to just let his parents be in any real danger, even though the guards seemed to want to get the Fentons out of there without resorting to ultra-violence.

 _'Where's briefcase-guy?'_

 _'Directly in the path of approaching doom.'_ Robin seemed to be holding back a bad case of the giggles. He must have seen at least part of what had just happened in the collapsed tent. How he had managed to do that, Danny wasn't sure.

 _'Then my work here is done.'_

Danny sat back to watch the spectacle unfold.

As one ghost, two ghost hunters and three guards ran towards briefcase-guy, nobody noticed a small projectile hitting a nearby tent-post. Further, nobody involved noticed how said projectile was attached to a thin wire. However, briefcase-guy _must_ have noticed when he tripped on said wire.

Given the chaos suddenly surrounding him, it was hard to say what he attributed his fall to.

Danny wanted to do things the easy way, to swoop in and steal a part of whatever was in the briefcase as easily as he'd stolen the guards' bullets.

However, Robin had said he'd deal with things on his own.

Also, Danny kind of wanted to see Gotham's Boy Wonder in action. A lot. He was practically bouncing with unrestrained glee.

His reputation as a geek might not have been entirely undeserved.

When briefcase-guy tripped over the wire, the briefcase ended up on the ground not far from him. Therefore, it was right in the middle of the chaos. Someone, namely Jack Fenton, stepped on it.

If anyone else had stepped on the robust briefcase, it would have survived mostly unscratched. However, Danny's father was almost as wide as he was tall. And he was tall enough that he dwarfed any normal human, even the the guards that looked like they had been hired partly for their ability to intimidate. No normal case was built to survive that kind of pressure.

The briefcase cracked open.

Rather than stopping to make sure no pieces fell out of it, briefcase-guy pulled himself to his feet and ran.

That was probably the smart choice, considering the circumstances.

It wasn't too long after that that Boxy decided he was too far away from the pile of crates and disappeared, promising more cubed pain the next time.

Danny knew he'd end up losing sleep trying to stop the terrorization of the closest warehouse the next night. It was still worth it.

Once the Box Ghost had cleared the premises, the guards were able to bring the situation under control and throw out the Fentons. Despite their loud threats of taking legal action against the trespassers, the guards just seemed to want to be rid of them as quickly as possible.

That was not an uncommon reaction to encountering the older Fentons.

Danny didn't see Robin, distracted as he was by his parents, but Robin's voice in his mind was as clear as day. _'Got it, let's clear this joint.'_

They met up at the Bio-ship, which was kind of hard to find since it too was able to perform the Martian camouflage trick.

Robin displayed their price with all the smug superiority of a fox. "So, Supey. What's the verdict?"

"I don't know." Superboy scowled at the glowing red shard. "I think I feel _something_ from it..."

" _Red_ kryptonite?" Kid Flash frowned. "Is that a thing?"

Robin slipped the piece into a lead box and shrugged, casualness hiding worry. "Apparently."

"And Luthor's got an entire briefcase of it." Aqualad looked unhappy with his decision to not openly engage.

* * *

Valerie came away from their first mission feeling distinctly unsatisfied. She hadn't really contributed anything to the team.

It left her with a lot of extra energy, and nowhere to put it.

Simply put, it was frustrating.

They finished their debriefing with Batman, and he told them to hit the showers.

Like they had actually worked up a sweat.

She forced herself to not stomp off, but maybe her body language betrayed more than she thought.

"Valerie, I need to talk to you." Black Canary beckoned Valerie over with a small wave of her fingers.

Valerie worked in the fast food industry, she knew how to fake a smile on demand. That didn't mean she wasn't feeling like a kid asked by their teacher to hang back after class. Phantom even gave her a 'you're in trouble' grin before flying off. She wanted to smack him, but that would probably not help with whatever it was she was in trouble for.

"Yes?"

"You're not in trouble." Canary smiled warmly. It was a genuine smile, very unlike the practised one that decorated Valerie's face.

Valerie's shoulders dropped as she unwound. She tilted her head slightly to the side and kept her tone as non-hostile as she could, considering how she was still frustrated with life in general. "Then what _do_ you want?"

"I'm in charge of the Team's training."

Valerie nodded, to show that she was listening.

"Between that and hero work, I won't have the time to give you the individual attention you deserve. I'm already practically a mentor to Superboy..." She trailed off, her mouth pulling into a thin grimace.

"Superman isn't-"

"I still have hope that he'll change his mind, but until then I'm all that Superboy's got."

Valerie nodded again.

"From what I've been told, you aren't on the beginner's level where Superboy is. Training you two together would be unfair to you. I'm still not sure what to do about Phantom."

Valerie decided to just nod again. It was easier than coming up with something to say.

"That's why I want to introduce you to _my_ mentor." Black Canary's eyes lit up with warmth.

"Really?"

Canary handed Valerie a small business card. "Meet me at this location, seven PM tomorrow. Bring gym clothes."

Valerie didn't even try to hold back her pleased smile.

* * *

The address on the card led to an area that was right in between being _really_ seedy and just being kind of awkwardly run-down. The only spot of colour among the gray concrete buildings came from graffiti. There were just enough people around that the risk of getting attacked decreased due to fear of witnesses.

Valerie wasn't sure what to think, but she was grateful that her first experience with the area was during daylight hours.

Black Canary was wearing civilian clothes, but since that included a leather jacket and her face as visible as ever, it did absolutely nothing to hide her identity.

Canary started walking without explaining herself, and Valerie held back her questions.

Pretty soon, they found themselves heading into the basement of one of the larger buildings.

Valerie was immediately assaulted by the stench of sweat.

 _'A gym?'_

It was a boxing gym, to be precise. Complete with several sets of different types of punching bags, as well as a ring.

A few of the patrons looked up when they entered, but all but one immediately returned to their work-out. Like Black Canary showing up wasn't a special enough occasion to warrant attention.

The one guy who _hadn't_ opted to ignore them was old, with gray hair and wrinkles, but he still had defined muscles, broad shoulders, and a proud posture. He was more than a head taller than Valerie.

"Ted." Canary smiled as he came over.

"Dinah." He didn't smile back, but there was a warmth to the way he said her name.

"Ted, this is Valerie Gray, aka Red Huntress. Valerie, meet Ted Grant, also known as Wildcat."

That name didn't meant anything to Valerie, but she took the offered had anyway.

"A pleasure."

His handshake was firm, but not crushing.

"Ted here taught me nearly everything I know."

"Oh, only nearly?" Ted's lips twitched, but the gruff man still didn't smile.

"Well, _I_ fight in heels."

That earned a smirk. "Well, kid. Go and change and we'll see what you're made of." Ted pointed his thumb towards the changing rooms.

The steady rhythm of one of the guys in there punching a bag was relaxing. Probably nearly as relaxing as having a go at it herself.

Valerie smiled. "I like the sound of that."

* * *

 **AN:** The Fentons have a medieval torture chamber in their basement, complete with stockades and an iron maiden, as shown in the episode _Fanning_ _the_ _Flames._ It's canon and it's weird.

Annoyed minion number one isn't supposed to be anyone special. Same goes for guards 1-3.

I'm using the Smallville version of red kryptonite, because the comics... Let's just say the effects vary _greatly_ according to what plot the writers want to tell. Oh, the Silver Age. How you amuse me.


	4. Bonding

**Bonding**

"Phantom!"

Danny stopped outside of the Zeta tube masquerading as a broken telephone booth, a remnant of a lost age, in Amity Park.

Valerie ran up to him, dressed in her civvies. She was making him feel a little overdressed, and part of him wished he could just be _Fenton_ around the Team.

"Red, what's up?" Danny raised an eyebrow.

Valerie hesitated. "If we're going to be on a team together, we should probably work a few things out first."

"Sure." Danny smirked, making sure to keep his expression as Phantom-like as he could. Confident, cocky. No hint of nervousness. "Step into my office." He waved towards a nearby warehouse before flying off.

Valerie followed on her hoverboard, and soon they were sitting on the building, their legs hanging over the side of the roof.

Despite being in a warehouse district, the air was cool and mostly clean. The winds messed up Danny's already messy hair, and he looked over to Valerie to find her face completely hidden by her curls.

Danny bit down on his lip to keep himself from laughing.

Valerie brushed her hair aside, only for the wind to undo her efforts.

Danny let out a snort.

Valerie glared at him from underneath her hair.

Danny completely lost it.

"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, ghost boy." Valerie rolled her eyes, but she was smiling.

"Sorry." The effect of the apology was probably negated by the fact that he couldn't stop grinning. "What did you want?"

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a few seconds. "It's the whole 'trying to kill each other' thing we had going on..."

"Wait, what? Since when have _I_ tried to kill _you?_ I never tried to kill you."

"Yes you did. When you destroyed my first suit."

"No! No, no, no. Nope. Absolutely not." Danny frantically waved his hands around. "I knew you weren't in it! You were standing right next to it, for Clockwork's sake!"

Valerie's eyes widened. "I... I believe you."

Phew.

Her face became very blank. "This whole 'attempted murder' thing has been completely one-sided, hasn't it?"

Danny shrugged.

"I'm sorry." She nearly whispered the words, and she wouldn't look at him.

"I forgive you. Now, let's get to the cave." He slipped of the roof, but caught himself so that he was hanging in the air.

"You forgive me? Just like that?"

"Red, the vast majority of my friends have tried to waste me at some point."

She looked skeptical at that.

"Just trust me, it's not that big of a deal."

"Speaking of which, can we _not_ tell the Team that we used to be enemies?"

"Wasn't planning to."

"Really?" Her hoverboard formed beneath her feet, and she flew down to his level.

"The reason I'm on the Team... You know, aside from it being awesome and superheroes and stuff... The reason is that I want to show them that not all ghosts are evil."

"Oh."

"Telling them the opinions of ghost hunters won't help with that."

"Because if they hear about all the prejudices, they might consider that it's true?"

"I... I don't want them to attack me too." He cocky Phantom mask broke ever so slightly, and Danny was forced to distract himself by looking off into the distance.

Valerie didn't seem like she knew what to say to that.

"I need to be a _ghost_ _hero,_ so that all the ghost villains don't..." Danny frowned. "Reflect poorly on the ghost civilians?"

Valerie snorted. "That sentence had one too many 'ghost' in it, but I think I got the gist."

"Not the _geist_?"

"No."

He smiled. She smiled back, if reluctantly. There was a moment of silence where both of them waited for the other to say anything else before they flew down to the phone booth and activated the Zeta beams.

" **Recognized. Red Huntress, B08. Phantom, B09.** "

"You're here!" M'gann floated out of the kitchen, a wide smile on her face.

Danny and Valerie shared a confused look.

"Yes, we are?" Valerie put a hand to her hip. "You shouldn't be surprised, you're the one who asked us to come."

"What is this about, anyway? There's no training today." Danny tilted his head.

Before M'gann could answer, a blur of red and blue sped out of the kitchen. Wally smiled at them. "We're having a movie night."

"A movie night?" echoed Danny.

"Yes, grandpa. We're gonna introduce you to the wonders of moving pictures." Wally looked wide-eyed towards the ceiling, moving his open hand in a wide arch. "Technology has come far since your days and I won't let you miss out on this."

"I've seen movies before."

"Okay, but have you seen them..." Wally made a dramatic pause. "In colour?"

"Yes."

"Yes, well." M'gann looked between them. "Movie nights with friends are an important part of Earth culture, and I really want-"

"We're staying." Valerie gave Danny a challenging look, like she was daring him to question her. "Even if Phantom's seen a movie before. He's not the only one who has. That's not what's important."

"It will be a good opportunity for team building," commented Kaldur as he walked past them with three ridiculously large bowls of popcorn in his arms.

"Yeah. So let's go, grandpa." Wally smirked.

"Grandpa?"

"You're old enough, and you've got the hair for it."

Danny had to stop himself from complaining that he wasn't _that_ _old._ That would hardly help, seeing as he had tricked the Team into thinking he was well over 500. Also, it sounded like something an old person would say. "You're tempting fate, Junior. And me. Mostly me."

"Not the Flash Junior thing _again_ ," pouted Wally.

"That's completely up to you." Danny smirked and floated after Kaldur.

They had two green sofas propped up in front of the TV. Artemis and Robin were casually lounging in one, while Superboy sat rigid in the other.

Danny did the only natural thing and floated above them, positioning himself like he was hanging in a hammock rather than disobeying the laws of gravity.

Wally used his speed to pop down next to Robin before anyone could steal that seat, and Kaldur squeezed in after him. M'gann took the seat next to SB. Valerie sat down next to M'gann.

"What are we watching?" Danny rolled over in the air so that he was facing the TV upside-down.

"Well, _I_ wanted to watch a horror flick," began Wally.

"Horror. In a cave. That's literally haunted." Artemis side-eyed him hard.

"What, you chicken?"

"Am I really that scary?" Danny gave an exaggerated whine to hide the tone of genuine hurt that was creeping into his voice.

"Hardly." Artemis was blunt. She seemed more than a little insulted that someone could even _think_ that she'd be afraid of Phantom. "You're about as scary as a puppy."

"What breed of dog?" Danny had to stop himself from smiling. Images of Cujo played in his head. "Doberman or poodle?"

Robin let out a snort. "Dalmatian."

"I can live with that."

Seven people looked mutely at Danny.

"You know what I mean." He rolled his eyes.

"In any case, we're not watching a horror." Robin clicked a few buttons, and the lights were toned down. "We've got first time watchers with us, so we're watching a quintessential cinema classic."

"Samurai Mall Cop 2!" Wally held up the DVD case with a grin.

* * *

"Why did the samurai mall cop have a boomerang?" Superboy didn't even scowl because he was so confused.

Valerie stretched out, her arms protesting their previously cramped position. She was tempted to run her hands through her hair, but her fingers were greasy from the popcorn. "Maybe it makes sense if you saw the first one?"

"Ha, ha, ha." Wally didn't laugh, but rather said the word out loud. "No."

"I think it was good." Phantom was still hanging upside-down. He looked ridiculous, and perfectly at ease. "Maybe. Kinda... so bad that it's good?"

Valerie crossed her arms. "All your blood must be rushing to your head if you think-"

"Don't have blood, Red. You know that."

She did know that. Crud. Why did treating him like a person have to involve forgetting he was a ghost?

"The funniest part is that they didn't even know how boomerangs work." Wally cut through the mounting tension by virtue of ignoring it. "I mean, I fight Captain Boomerang all the time and..."

She tuned him out.

"We should probably eat something." Robin stretched, and somersaulted out of the couch.

"Pizza?" Artemis looked around. Everyone nodded their approval. "I'll get it, I could use some air."

"I'll go with you," offered Valerie.

She got a small smile and a nod in reply.

M'gann gave them some money, because Batman apparently sponsored movie night, and they were off.

It was summer, and not quite evening yet, so the sun was still far from setting. The outside air smelled of the ocean. Salty, but completely different from the smell of popcorn back in the cave.

"What did you think of the movie?" Valerie wasn't sure she cared about the answer, but the silence was beginning to bother her.

Artemis shrugged. "Eh, I don't know. The special effects were... bad. Really bad. And the acting was laughable... But it had its charm."

"Even the ninjas that just came out of nowhere, stayed for one scene, and then were never heard from again?"

"Especially the ninjas. They added some much needed action."

"The entire thing was one long action scene."

"Consider this; the ninjas had cool weapons. And they were played by actual Asians, unlike the Samurai Mall Cop."

"Okay, obviously I'm the only one on the Team with standards..."

Artemis rolled her eyes, but she was smiling.

Their walk to Happy Harbour wasn't an overly long one. The town itself was small, and the mountain wasn't far away to begin with. Soon they found themselves at the closest pizza place, and ordered nine pizzas, with varying toppings. Because Wally's metabolism meant he needed two.

They left the pizza place with a truly ridiculous pile of boxes.

When they got out of town, Valerie stopped. Artemis sent her a questioning look.

"You think you're alright holding all of them on your own?" Valerie shifted her boxes onto the pile Artemis was carrying.

"Why did you even offer to go with me if you're not gonna help?" Artemis glared over the pile. When they failed, she tilted her head and shifted her arms so she could glare around the pile.

"Because we're flying back." She jumped up and summoned her hoverboard. "Get on."

Artemis' eyebrows rose. "How would I even-"

"You can sit on the front."

"Nice."

* * *

"Wanna play a game while we wait?" Wally turned towards Danny with a challenging smirk.

Danny turned right-side up and landed in the couch with a thud. "You're on."

"I would advice against this action," despite his tone, Kaldur mostly seemed amused.

"Yeah. Wally doesn't have a life, so he spends _a lot_ of time gaming." Robin started setting up what they passed for a game system, which was simply two laptops arranged so that the TV showed the content of their screens.

"If there's anyone who doesn't have a life here, it's _me_." Danny pointed his thumb towards his chest.

"You're not supposed to brag about that." Robin smirked.

"I think he was making a pun." Superboy looked between them for confirmation.

"I know, but it was bad, so I ignored it." Robin leaned back in the sofa as a loading screen popped up on the TV.

"Like you're one to talk." Wally shook his head slowly.

"You wound me. I'm a pun-connoisseur, I would never stoop so low as to use _that one_."

Wally let out a snort. "Yeah, keep telling yourself that."

"Which side are you on, traitor?" Robin pressed a hand to his chest and leaned back dramatically. He looked like he was imitating a Shakespeare character who had been stabbed through the heart and was saying his last monologue. "This truly puts the 'dis' back in 'aster'."

The game finished loading, giving everyone a much needed excuse to ignore Robin's theatrics.

"Doomed?" Danny blinked at the screen.

Wally must have misinterpreted Danny's shock, because his grin widened.

Robin shoved a laptop with several cords hanging of it into Danny's hands.

"Since you're a first-timer, I _should_ probably explain how to play..." Wally trailed off and turned towards the screen, making it very clear that he wasn't planning on explaining anything.

Robin on the other hand took pity on Danny. "Here, I'll let you log in with my account... Arrows to walk, X to shoot, Y to use any items."

"Thank you." Danny had to stop himself from smirking. "But if it's all the same to you, I think I'll use my own account."

Wally slowly turned his head towards Danny.

Danny attached his headset as he got an in-game call.

"GhostBoy! I thought you said you'd spend the day with your new team." Sam's voice was as familiar as it was welcome.

"I am, Chaos."

Wally inhaled loudly as he recognized the screen-name of one of the game's most notorious players.

"Help me kick WallMan's butt, will ya?"

"Anytime, GhostBoy. Anytime."

"Hey, no bringing outsiders into our duel!" Wally's eyes were wide.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't know." Danny's smirk matched his sarcastic tone. "After all, you didn't explain the rules."

* * *

"What did we miss?" Artemis put down a pile of boxes on the kitchen table. The smell coming off them was delicious and greasy.

"I proved that I was a bigger nerd than KF." Danny smiled, rather pleased with himself.

"Pfft. If you'd asked, I could have just _told_ you that." Valerie rolled her eyes. "All those bad puns you tell should be evidence enough."

"Puns being really bad is what makes them good!" Everybody ignored Danny's protest.

"You didn't defeat me, you just showed that you have friends in nerdy places!" Wally sped into the kitchen and stole the top two boxes of pizza.

"Close enough." Danny opened the remaining cartons, looking them over with a critical eye. When none of the pizzas showed any signs of attacking, he took a random one. A picky eater, he was not.

"Don't forget who's the _real_ king of games." Robin took an exaggerated bow.

Wally and Danny groaned in unison.

"I can't believe video games is a bat-skill." Danny shook his head.

"It's fine motor skills and reaction speed, of course it's a bat-skill." Robin sat down with a carefully selected pizza.

"Oh, hello Megan. I almost forgot to ask." M'gann put her hand against her forehead. "Phantom, do you want to move into the cave? Red Tornado said you could, if you didn't have anywhere else to stay."

"Thanks, but I'm good. I've got this nice little place in Amity Park. Haunted house, you know."

"What, alone or-" Artemis raised an eyebrow at him.

"Nope."

"With humans? Do they know that you live there?" Valerie crossed her arms.

"Of course they do. They have me doing chores and everything."

Valerie smiled at the mental image that evoked before frowning again. "Wait, you don't have a lair?"

"A lair? What is he, a supervillain?" Wally gave Val a level stare.

"It's what you call a ghost's domain in the Ghost Zone." Danny shrugged. "And, no, I don't have one."

"The Ghost Zone? Seriously?" Robin held his hands open in front of himself, as if he was expecting logic to rain down from the ceiling.

"It's a different dimension," explained Valerie. "It's very..."

"Different. Swirly green skies and floating purple doors that connect wherever they want to."

"I was going to say ' _horrible_ ', but that works too."

"Not every single part of the Zone is like Skulker's island. I'll take you to the nice parts sometime, show you around." Danny nodded to himself.

"If you say so."

* * *

Danny yawned. They had put on another movie, which he wasn't really paying attention to, and food coma was sneaking up on him. It had gotten to the point where he was sitting on the backrest of one of the couches rather than floating above them like a proper ghost.

It was nice.

Danny relaxed as he watched the continued adventures of Samurai Mall Cop. He was practically falling asleep where he was sitting.

Rings of light formed around his waist.

Danny jumped in his seat, and the rings were gone before they could fully form.

 _'No. No. No!'_

A cursory glance around the room revealed nobody had noticed the short flash of light, or that everyone had blamed it on the movie.

A big ball of panic was forming in Danny's stomach.

 _'I can't let them know.'_

He disentangled himself from the blanked he had been sharing with M'gann and Superboy.

 _'If they find out I'm a halfa, they'll think I'm only a hero because I'm part human.'_

He couldn't stay, he was too tired, even though his rising panic was keeping him wide awake. He couldn't risk falling asleep in front of them.

 _'They'll believe my parents when they say all full ghosts are evil. They're part of the Justice League, if they start believing all ghosts are bad...'_

He walked unsteadily, stuck between floating and obeying the laws of gravity. His feet only hit the floor half of the time. After what felt like hours, he made it to the Zeta Tubes.

 _'I can't risk genocide, not because I got too relaxed.'_

" **Recognized. Phantom, B09.** "


	5. Tension

**Tension**

Vlad Masters sat down in the office chair in his secret lab. His finger tapped an impatient rhythm against the desk.

The lab was well-lit, displaying smooth metal surfaces and the parts of unfinished gadgetry.

On the computer screen, a sped up version of his surveillance tapes was playing. There were two angles, both displayed in infrared, showing what had happened a few nights ago at a certain archaeological excavation outside of Amity Park.

Luthor was one of his few rivals, and him making a move so close to Vlad's territory was nothing short of a challenge. As such, Vlad had sent out his spy bugs in the hopes of finding himself an advantage over Luthor in the business world.

What he had found was something else entirely.

That was fine. After all, it was still something he could use.

* * *

The training room in the cave was not very well lit. The walls were bare stone, and their dark grey colour did nothing to improve the lighting.

In sharp contrast with the natural walls, the floor was highly advanced technology, with sensors and holographic screens noting when somebody had lost a match.

The purpose of their training was so that Black Canary could teach them hand-to-hand fighting, without the use of powers of gadgets.

While Valerie got to show off her ninth degree black belt skills against Kaldur, throwing in some boxing moves Danny had never seen her use before, he was sitting by the wall next to Wally and Robin.

"So, Wally." Danny paused, trying to come up with a way to frame the conversation. "Half the Team aren't human, while those who are... Robin, Artemis and Red all use gadgets and what-not... But what's _your_ deal?"

Wally grinned with all the humility of someone about to brag about their own excellence. "I replicated Flash's lab accident."

At the last two words, Danny's stomach sank like a stone. He was feeling cold, in a way that was much less centralized than his Ghost Sense. The room spun for a second, before stabilizing into horrible clarity.

"Is that so?" If Danny's voice shook, or became very flat, Wally didn't seem to notice.

Robin, however, did. He gave Danny a worried look.

"Yeah. You see, Flash got his powers because he was electrocuted while in contact with a very specific mix of chemicals, and I found his notes-"

 _The sound of the portal charging up. The pain of hundreds of volt running through his body. The smell of ozone in the air. White fading to green fading to black._

"And you thought it was a good idea to have a lab accident where you _electrocuted_ yourself!? On _purpose_!?"

"Erm, yeah?" Wally blinked.

"You could have died!"

"Oh relax. I blew up the garage and got sent to the hospital, but it was worth it."

The world tinted green in the light of Danny's glowing irises.

"Worth it!? You're alive! You can't just throw that away like it's nothing!"

 _Sam urging him to go into the Portal a second time, to stop Desiree. Sam smiling as she put the symbol on his chest, like she didn't know he had spent months grieving his lost humanity once already. Not knowing what he was giving up. What he had just gotten back. Electricity running through his bones. Black fading to green._

Everybody was staring at him. Even Kaldur and Valerie, the latter of which had the former in a loose headlock.

There was a moment of tense silence, where everybody was seemingly waiting for somebody else to break it, before Batman entered the room.

Gotham's Dark Knight proceeded to make note of the tense atmosphere before completely ignoring it.

* * *

Robin gave his best friend casual looks from the corner of his eye.

Wally was still somewhere between flabbergasted and defensive, working himself towards anger. He was in a loop of starting to tap his foot, noticing it and stopping, only to start again. His mind seemed to be drifting far away from the things Batman were saying.

Phantom, on the other hand, was paying full attention to Batman to distract himself. He was also glowing brighter than usual, not just his eyes. Was that how ghosts displayed anger? His arms were crossed, his shoulders pulled forward and up. His face was carefully blank.

There was something _off_ about the situation.

Robin would expect some level of angry jealousy from the ghost towards the living, but his reaction was too extreme. Robin was missing something. Something big and probably very personal.

However, going by what he knew about Phantom, it didn't make any sense.

When Batman dismissed them, Phantom hurried towards the Bio-ship. As a consequence, Wally hung back a bit.

"Do you know what that was about?" Robin turned towards Valerie before she could head off.

"No." She stopped, and looked from Robin to Wally to where Phantom had run off to. "I don't... I don't know him that well."

"But you're partners." Wally frowned.

She raised a single eyebrow. "We keep the city safe. We generally don't stay and chat after work."

Wally blinked in shock.

Robin felt himself agreeing with his talkative speedster friend. How could you trust someone to have your back, but not even talk to them about non-hero stuff?

"Let's just get to the Bio-ship." Valerie shook her head and left the room.

"Wait, so nobody knows anything about him?" Wally looked like he had bitten into something sour. "Not his name, not his age... How can we trust him if we don't know _anything_?"

"It's not like the Team knows _my_ name either." Robin tapped his mask.

"That's different." Wally rolled his eyes.

 _'Sure you're not just looking for an excuse to be angry at him, since he's angry at you?'_

Rather than saying that out loud, Robin settled for a sceptical look. "Suuure it is."

"Stop that, we have a mission."

"Do you even know what the mission is?"

"Something about weapon smuggling?"

"Well, you're not wrong."

* * *

Danny sat on a warehouse roof next to Superboy. They were keeping watch on the harbour, where a large transaction was taking place. Men working for the Penguin were moving boxes that very likely contained semi-automatic shotguns. However, they weren't in Gotham, but rather some no-name hole in the ground, barely bigger than its harbour.

There was an anonymous tip involved.

The other members of the Team were divided into pairs and hidden at strategic positions throughout the docks.

"Do you... want to talk about it?" Superboy looked like he wasn't happy about asking, but determined to see things through.

"Did Miss M put you up to this?"

Superboy nodded.

Danny smiled, and had to resist the urge to point out that you weren't supposed to just admit something like that.

"So?" Superboy grunted the word.

"I'll get over it." Danny leaned his fingers on his forehead, hiding his face. "I just need to... _not_ talk to KF for a while."

Superboy grunted. Danny liked to imagine it was with agreement, but it was hard to tell.

* * *

Valerie leaned against the fire escape, a rickety metal staircase hanging to the outside of one of the buildings. It creaked whenever she moved. She was very thankful that her suit was capable of flight.

To her left, visibly undaunted by the risk of falling to their deaths, was Artemis.

To be fair, if Artemis was afraid of heights, Valerie suspected she would be able to hide it. Not showing signs of weakness, and all that.

Artemis held a tiny monocular to her eye, while Valerie had her visor set to night-vision and maximum zoom.

 _'I've got visual on the target.'_ Robin's mental voice came over the mind link. _'Ten men.'_

 _'Confirmation on that?'_ asked Aqualad.

Artemis frowned and leaned forward. A small smile spread across her lips. _'I've got ten, but I don't see the target from here.'_

 _'I do. That's definitely our crate.'_ Miss Martian sounded triumphant.

 _'Superboy, Phantom, hang back. The rest, engage.'_

That was just a repeat of the plan as they had gone over it. Superboy tended to be very loud when jumping around, so it was best to keep him in reserve. If there were other enemies lurking around, the Team didn't want to alert them. Phantom was likely on back-up duty to give him a chance to calm down from before, if he still needed it.

Valerie nodded to herself and jumped off the staircase. Her hoverboard caught her before she could fall, and she extended a hand to Artemis.

Artemis reluctantly took it. She was balanced and steady on her feet, but clearly less confident than she was pretending to be, if the way she was gripping Valerie's shoulders was any indication.

Valerie flew close to the roofs of the warehouses as long as she could, dropping off her archer passenger at the last one, before swooping down at the last second.

With Aqualad timing them over the link, all pairs managed to begin their attack at once.

The weapon smugglers didn't know what hit them.

Oddly enough, none of them seemed to be armed. Considering how they were carrying a crate filled with guns, Valerie dissolved her hoverboard and focused her attention on taking out the ones carrying it first. Hand-to-hand combat was augmented by liberal use of her wrist-mounted taser, since using ectoplasmic imitation blasts on normal humans was overkill.

The crate fell to the ground with a loud crash. One of the sides gave out, and the contents spilled all over the ground.

The crate contained bananas.

Valerie blinked. She took half a step forward, determined to dig out guns from underneath the fruit. She blinked again, pushing down her immediate disbelief. She took half a step back. Something was very, very wrong.

 _'It's a trap!'_ Valerie's warning got out in the mental link mere moments before a bright pink energy bolt hit her shoulder.

The force of it made her stumble, and she could feel the heat of the blast, despite the protections of her suit.

She turned to face the ghost that attacked her.

Plasmius faded into visibility, floating a few feet up in the air. There was a malicious smile playing on his lips.

Valerie's blood ran cold.

It was with perfect, crisp clarity as she looked at the ghost. Plasmius. Vlad Masters. She wasn't quite sure _what_ he was or how this whole transforming into a ghost thing worked, but she did know one thing - he had used her.

The clarity was beginning to drain away. The edges of her vision were hazing over with red. Tunnel vision was kicking in, leaving her fully focused on her target.

She knew she wouldn't be able to kill a human, and however questionable Mr. Masters' humanity was, she couldn't kill him.

That wouldn't stop her from severely injuring him.

Her hoverboard came to life beneath her feet, even though she hadn't noticed summoning it to begin with.

Valerie charged with a snarl, the ecto-guns at the bottom of her board whirring with energy.

Plasmius caught her by her neck.

"Why, charging straight in without a plan?" he drawled, "Clearly, spending more time with Daniel has done you no favours."

A small part of Valerie wondered who 'Daniel' was, and when she was supposed to have spent time with him. A large part of her was having trouble breathing. Even so, she was too angry to care. Too angry to think. She just wanted to make him answer for his crimes. "I went back, you know."

Plasmius raised a single eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"After me and Phantom freed that little girl. I went back to check on Mr. Masters."

There was something highly satisfying about the shock, the fear, that danced across his eyes. He schooled his expression quickly, but she caught it.

"I see." His hand on her neck tightened. "I wouldn't tell anyone about that, if I were you. We wouldn't want anything to happen to old Damon, now would we?"

Her anger hissed out, like fire drenched in ice water. She was left with a chill deep within her heart.

"Leave my dad out of this."

"That's up to you, isn't it?" Plasmius smiled again, baring fangs. His voice was barely louder than a whisper, but there was no mistaking the threatening tone.

There was the twing of a bow, and they turned intangible just in time to avoid getting hit by one of Artemis' arrows. Probably, the archer had expected that the ghost would drop Valerie when turning intangible. Plasmius regarded Artemis with cool indifference.

Valerie didn't waste his moment of distraction. She pulled up her legs so that her board was between them, slightly angled away from him, and put on full throttle.

The sudden jerk was enough to send her flying away from the ghost. She gasped down lungfuls of air.

 _'Who's the Dracula impersonator?'_ asked Robin.

 _'Bad news.'_ Valerie frowned. _'He's called Plasmius.'_

' _What's_ he _doing here?'_ Phantom's mental voice was somewhere between whiny, angry and tired.

 _'I don't know, Phantom. Why don't you ask him?'_ Valerie couldn't hold back the vicious tone from her mind.

A couple of more arrows came Plasmius' way, but he simply turned intangible once more. Just as soon as the arrows flew through him and he turned back to normal, they exploded. The shockwave pushed him to the ground.

Valerie got a strong feeling that she and Artemis were going to become close friends.

Plasmius got up again, looking no worse for the wear. When another volley of arrows, along with some explosive discs, came towards him he put up a pink shield.

Valerie risked glancing around for her teammates. Artemis was still on the nearby warehouse, while Robin had slunk into the shadows. Kid Flash looked like he was debating a repeat of Valerie's unsuccessful direct attack, while Aqualad and Miss Martian had taken up defensive positions.

It took only seconds for it to become apparent that, aside from Valerie, none of the others were prepared to fight ghosts. Discs and arrows were blocked, the crates Miss M threw using her telekinesis were phased through, while Kid Flash was wholly ineffective - being stuck on the ground and all.

 _'If we get him closer to the water, I believe I have an effective strategy.'_ Kaldur glanced between the ghost and the rest of the harbour.

 _'I've got some anti-ghost tech, but nothing that works for long range.'_ Robin sounded apprehensive. _'And be careful. He's looking for something.'_

Now that somebody had pointed it out, Valerie also noticed how more than a little of Plasmius' attention seemed to be directed somewhere else.

 _'Any idea what he's after?'_ asked Kid Flash.

 _'I've got one,'_ replied Phantom. _'If you think this is the sort of situation where the back-up needs to back you up, I can find out if I'm right.'_

 _'Do it.'_ Something about Aqualad's mental voice sounded as a long-suffering sigh. _'We can't afford to hold our other ghost hunter in reserve.'_

A bright green bolt shot through the air, only to be stopped by another pink shield.

Plasmius whirled around, a smug smirk on his face. "There you are."

 _'Yupp, he was looking for me,'_ informed Phantom in what was probably supposed to be a helpful manner.

 _'You don't say.'_ Valerie felt like banging her head against something hard.

* * *

Danny could feel his mounting headache.

They couldn't just get a normal mission, with normal weapon smugglers working for Gotham's underground. No, it _had_ to be a trap set by a manipulative fruitloop who considered everything one big game of chess.

The problem was, Danny wasn't sure what the endgame was about.

"What are you even doing here? Don't you have anything better to do?" Danny forced himself to appear confident and confrontational, to hide his insecurity. "Like, I don't know, looking after that cat of yours?"

"Why, son. I'm insulted. You can't think I'd consider my cat more important than meeting your new team." Plasmius put a hand to his chest, where his heart would be if he wasn't a heartless jerk.

At least Danny's growing irritation was helping him mask his confusion. Had Vlad lured them there just to check out the opposition? That seemed like... an awfully big risk, with very little payback. It would be easier to just spy on them from afar. Danny had to be missing something.

"And, Daniel, I can't say I'm very impressed." Plasmius adopted a very fake, solemn expression. "You'd be better off joining me."

"And here I thought you'd stopped with that, old man." Danny sighed. Vlad's reason for being there was starting to make more sense.

"Whatever gave you that idea?" Plasmius' faked casualness was almost convincing. The act was only ruined by him him punctuating the sentence by throwing an ecto-blast.

"Do pitchforks, torches and blood blossoms ring any bells?" Danny dodged, and responded with a blast of his own. "You tried to post-mortem murder me."

"That was over 200 years ago, Daniel. You should really be over it by now." Plasmius gave the impression of rolling his eyes, but since they were entirely red it was hard to tell.

With a guttural roar, Danny tried to bury a glowing fist in Plasmius' face. _Tried_ being the operative word.

Plasmius caught Danny's wrist, electrocuted him, and then spun around and used their momentum to throw Danny into the advancing Kid Flash.

The two of them fell over each other and bounced though the window of one of the warehouses, landing in a pile of hurt and broken glass.

Danny carefully disentangled himself.

KF was sporting a large gash across his chin. There was a wide trail of blood leaking from it.

Similarly, there were small cuts all over Danny's suit. Liquid ectoplasm dripped to the floor, glowing green.

Kid Flash sat up carefully, obviously fighting back dizziness. "What was _that_?"

Danny took a second to worry about KF hitting his head before answering. "Plasmius threw-"

"Not that! You getting all chummy with the enemy!"

"I accused him of trying to murder me."

"Yeah." KF rolled his eyes. "Bad guys tend to do that. That's no reason to ask about their pets. Right, _Daniel_?"

There was a sinking feeling in Danny's gut. His mouth felt dry.

Kid Flash glared at him.

"We don't have time for this right now! Red and I are the only ones who can fight him, so you can just sit quietly on the sidelines until we're finished, okay?" Danny didn't fight the patronizing tone that crept into his voice. "And the cat comment makes sense in context. You don't know what you're talking about, Junior."

"Of course not, because you don't tell us _anything_! I can't believe you'd keep your name a secret from _us_ , when your enemies know it!" KF threw out his arms, vaguely gesturing towards Plasmius.

"Again, this not the time for this." Danny pulled himself into the air and flew out intangibly through the side of the house without waiting for a reply.

Outside was pandemonium.

Robin and Artemis had joined together to create explosions, which were mostly distractions from Valerie's attacks.

The ground shook as Superboy literally jumped into the fight, creating a crater where he landed.

Plasmius grinned even wider. He gave Danny what was probably supposed to be a meaningful look before flying towards the Kryptonian.

Superboy didn't stop his own charge, pulling back his fist as the two drew closer.

When they got close enough that Superboy started to throw his punch, Plasmius extended a sudden burst of speed and disappeared.

Superboy stopped, his hand opening as it didn't find anything to connect with.

 _'Where did he go?'_ asked Robin.

 _'Something is wrong-'_ began Miss Martian.

Superboy opened his eyes, and they glowed red.

 _'That's not Superboy.'_ Miss Martian stared with wide eyes.

 _'He's been overshadowed.'_ Valerie swore colourfully. _'Be careful, he still has all of his ghostly powers.'_

 _'And, let me guess, all of Superboy's Kryptonian strength?'_ Robin bit his lip. _'Miss M, can you-'_

Rather than wait to see where that conversation was going, Danny flew off like a comet towards his possessed teammate.

Plasmius seemed to be anticipating that, but he didn't move out of the way as Danny barged into him, pushing him out of Superboy's body. There was a second, right as Superboy got free, that he stared at Phantom with something that might have been fear. It was gone in less then a second, but it had been there.

There was no time to analyse it, because Plasmius took the opportunity to grab hold of Danny to once more throw him into the warehouse.

Kid Flash, who had been watching the action through the broken window, used his speed to move aside - leaving Danny to crash land in a pile of cardboard boxes.

Danny pulled himself up, silently swearing all the while. The Team were useless.

No, they were worse than useless. If anything, they were an obstacle, or even possible weapons to be used against him. He couldn't fight Plasmius and protect them at the same time.

He could feel his nails digging into his palms, even though the gloves.

There was a gust of window and then KF was by his side, steadying him.

"This isn't working. We need a plan." There was a new intensity in KF's eyes.

Danny pulled his arm roughly from KF's grip. "Well, I don't have one."

"So make one up! As you said, you and RH are the only ones who have fought him before. You've got to know what he's after, he's your dad for crying out loud."

Danny had been prepared to snarl in response, but that last part left him sputtering. "He's not my dad!"

"He called you 'son'. You called him 'old man'."

"That doesn't- Because he's _old_! He's not my dad! The context behind that cat comment is that I've been telling him to get a pet, since he's too old and unlikeable to find someone who'll love him and and he's bitter and alone and he really needs to stop flirting with my mom-" Danny cut off his tirade. It was a good thing KF was a speedster, because a normal person wouldn't have been able to keep up with the fast paced rambling. "My dad is _not_ a manipulative, malicious monster. Thank you very much."

"Not the point, but good for you."

Danny nodded jerkily.

"Phantom..." KF bit his lip, visibly pushing his anger aside. "He's your enemy. What do you think?"

Danny paused to think through his reply, taking the time to look out at the battlefield.

Plasmius was holding back. Not at a level that the Team would notice it, but to the point were it was very obvious to Danny. Most notably, there were no duplicates involved in the fight.

"He's mocking us, and being overconfident."

Danny's whirring thoughts stopped. Puzzle pieces jumped into place in his head. Realisation struck.

"He's trying to make me quit the Team."

"What?"

"Yeah, or for you to kick me out. He's my archenemy, me having more allies would get in the way of his plans. That's why he's here... He's trying to make me think that you're a liability in a ghost fight. But you've never fought a ghost before, so _of course_ you are. Most of you don't even have any ectoplasmic weapons!"

After a few seconds of Danny staring into silence, KF waved his hand in front of Danny's face. "Phantom?"

"I have a plan."

* * *

Danny looked his teammates over as he rejoined the fight. Aqualad and Miss Martian both sported burn marks, while Robin and Artemis seemed alright. Superboy was as unharmed as ever, but appeared unwilling to take the fight to close quarters once more. He had taken to throwing stuff at Plasmius, which was a less than effective method against someone who could turn intangible.

Valerie was the very image of a furious warrior goddess, but that was nothing new.

Danny rose into the air, throwing ecto-blasts as he did so. As much as he wanted to punch the smirk off Plamius' face, the plan didn't let him be in close combat with the other ghost.

 _'We could use a distraction right about now.'_ KF sounded just a tiny bit gleeful.

 _'On it,'_ said Robin and Artemis as one.

A volley of explosive discs and arrows hit Plasmius' hastily erected shield. Before the dust settled, Miss Martian and Superboy each threw a crate filled with bananas at him. The force against his shield was enough to make Plamius stumble, leaving him closer to the waterline.

From the ocean rose a giant snake made of water. Aqualad stood rigidly behind it, his water-bearers extended and his tattoos glowing. Aqualad pushed forward, and the snake attacked.

When the water drained away, a very wet and angry ghost was left behind. He was still flying, barely, but he was much closer to the ground than before.

 _'Now's your chance.'_

In a blur of speed, KF was underneath Plasmius. He raised his hands, pointing the Thermos Danny had borrowed him, and pushed the button.

Plasmius strained against the suction, but Danny and Valerie blasted him closer to the Thermos.

Plasmius disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Valerie swore. _'All that work, and he was a duplicate.'_

 _'Meh.'_ Danny shrugged. Despite everything, he couldn't help but smile. _'We still won. I'm counting this as a victory.'_

Everybody walked over to KF. Robin gave him a high-five.

"Not bad at all, Junior." Danny smirked as KF returned the Thermos.

"Well, _Daniel,_ it was your plan." KF smirked.

"It's Danny. My friends call me Danny."

"So, we're friends?" There was a challenge in Wally's eyes. "You know, friends tell friends stuff."

"Danny, huh? It suits you." M'gann smiled.

"Thanks."

Valerie looked uncomfortable. Danny didn't think the odds of her calling him 'Danny' soon were any good.

They headed towards the camouflaged Bio-ship, giving Danny a moment to think things through.

"You're right, Junior."

"I am?" KF gaped as he sat down in his seat. "I mean, of course I am. What am I right about?"

"If I don't tell you anything, I can't expect you to understand." Danny practically collapsed into his own chair. "Like this morning."

Wally tensed.

"Where do I even begin?" Danny dragged a hand over his face, coincidentally the hand that had hit the Ghost Portal's button in the first place. He stared at the white fabric, as if he could see through it if he only glared hard enough. His explanation wouldn't make sense if he continued pretending. "I'm sixteen."

Robin sighed with all of the patience of someone who had been forced to repeat a particular quote one too many times. "How long have you been sixteen?"

"A couple of months."

Valerie turned around in her seat to stare. Kaldur looked thoughtful. Artemis raised a single eyebrow.

"So you lied-" Robin frowned.

"No!" Danny waved his hands frantically. "I haven't lied to you. I've really been to the witch trials, and seen the Wright brothers, and all that I said. I was just... not correcting your assumptions."

Robin's eyes widened with realisation. "You're a time traveller."

Danny nodded. "Letting you think I was hundreds of years old was a joke, just to see if I could get away with it."

"What's that got to do with this morning?" Wally crossed his arms.

"Right. Well, you see..." Danny closed his eyes. Steeled himself. "It's about... how I died."

The small sounds of shifting fabric in the ship died out as everyone stopped moving. There was a tension in the air, as everyone realised how personal the conversation was getting.

"It was a lab accident." Danny opened his eyes again. He curled and uncurled his fingers a few times, as if to remind himself his hand was still functioning. "I was electrocuted."

"Oh. _Oh!_ " Wally's eyes widened to nearly comical levels. However, Danny couldn't find it in himself to see any humour in it.

M'gann had one hand held over her mouth. Valerie avoided eye contact. Kaldur nodded solemnly. Superboy scowled, in a way that was slightly different from his normal scowls. Danny wasn't sure what to make of it.

"Yikes." Robin leaned back in his seat.

"Yeah." Danny exhaled the word. Things were getting too serious. "It was a bit _shocking._ "

Wally choked on air. "Did you just-"

"Just because I'm dead doesn't mean I have to be all _grave_ about it. Puns help raise my _spirits._ "

Valerie leaned over and cuffed Danny over the back of his head. He stuck his tongue out at her.

* * *

The group split up as they finished debriefing Batman on what had happened during the mission. Artemis groaned and stretched, while Wally and Robin started talking about inconsequential things.

Danny hung back, catching Batman's eyes.

"Was there anything else?"

"If there's one thing Plasmius made clear, it's that the Team doesn't know how to fight ghosts. Frankly, a single strong ghost could take out the League. It would only take a little overshadowing and some planning." Danny fidgeted. "That is why I'm gonna teach the Team all about ghosts, and how to fight them."

Batman nodded his permission.

Danny cleared his throat before continuing. "If anyone in the Justice League wants to join..."

"I'll make sure all members know."


	6. Identity

**AN:** Extra long chapter this time, because there was just _so much_ that needed to happen. Hence me taking forever to update. (That and laziness.)

* * *

 **Identity**

Valerie's room was a mess.

Her clothes were in a pile on the floor, next to a toppled over mountain of old notes and books.

After gingerly stepping over a random baseball bat, Valerie collapsed on her bed.

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuugh."

Her entire body ached. As fun as boxing was, she was starting to regret ever taking Black Canary's offer. Wildcat was a tough coach.

She raised her head to look at her clock, to see whether it was an acceptable time to go to sleep, when her eyes glanced over her old note board.

A newspaper clipping of Phantom smiled at her.

Valerie pushed herself from her bed and walked over to the board. Newspaper clippings and handwritten notes were side-by-side with stuff printed from internet conspiracy forums. All of it was dedicated to the ghost boy.

In retrospect, it was the sort of thing serial killers had in movies.

Valerie scowled at it.

She raised a slightly shaking hand to one of her earliest articles. It was about the break-in at Axion Labs, the event that started it all.

She roughly tore it down, tearing it at the edges.

Valerie crumbled it up and threw it in the waste basket. It was oddly liberating.

The rest of the clippings soon followed, along with her notes.

A lone article dropped to the floor, and she stopped her nearly frantic motions to pick it up.

It was a picture of the ghost girl, Dani. Phantom's cousin.

Valerie slowly stood up, her eyes never leaving the picture. A few facts ran through her mind. One, Dani _really_ looked like Phantom. There was no doubt that they were related. Two, Dani was part human.

Did that make Phantom-

No. No. She couldn't think about that. If something like that was true-

His name was Danny-

Danielle's human form looked like-

There was a knock on her window. Valerie had never been so thankful for a distraction. She didn't want to consider the implications of Phantom's identity.

However, Valerie lived on the fourth floor. Knocking on her window was not normal.

In an instant, a blaster formed in her hand. She cautiously walked over to the window.

Phantom floated outside, a dorky smile on his face.

Valerie dispelled her weapon and opened the window. "Get in here before somebody sees you."

Phantom phased inside, ignoring the open window. His eyes immediately locked onto the mess around the note board. "Redecorating?"

"Cleaning. What do you want?"

"I need your help."

Valerie nodded, preparing to summon her full suit. Inflicting violence on evil-doers seemed like a good way to spend her night.

"Can you look over my presentation for tomorrow?" Phantom got the words out in a rush, belaying his nerves.

"What?" The word was flat, more of a statement than a question. Valerie blinked a few times to see whether Phantom would just disappear like the odd illusion that he was. She was half convinced she had fallen asleep. The situation was just too surreal.

"I'm telling the Team and the League about ghosts tomorrow and I'm really nervous." Phantom blushed faintly green with embarrassment. "I mean, I've idolized them since I was a kid. What if _Superman_ shows up?"

"Why me?"

"I've already asked everyone else, but they said, and I quote; 'Danny, I've already looked at it five times and I want to sleep.' Please. Help me, Obi-Val Kenobi. You're my only hope."

"Ah, erm. Okay?"

"Thank you!" Phantom's smile was blinding.

"Sure?"

He handed her an USB-stick. "My power-point."

"You did a power-point." She couldn't help but snort as she booted her computer.

"I'm not gonna risk forgetting something in front of the _Justice League._ "

"Fair enough."

She looked at the presentation, while Phantom hovered over her shoulder offering unhelpful commentary. It wasn't as annoying as she would have thought.

"I think you got it all..."

Phantom exhaled loudly.

"...Except for one thing."

"What?" He looked from her to the computer screen and back again. "What did I miss?"

"Ghosts who are also human. Like your cousin." Like Plasmius, but she wasn't going to risk her dad's life on Phantom already knowing that. She looked at him, narrowing her eyes in accusation.

The way Phantom's emotions played over his face was interesting. Worry seamlessly replaced surprise, after which he tried and failed to adopt a poker face. "The League doesn't need to know about that. It's... something of a ghost secret."

Valerie didn't know what to say, but she _needed_ to peruse the subject further. She opened her mouth without a plan of attack.

"Hey, Red. Are we friends?"

Valerie frowned at the sudden switch in conversation. Not too long ago, the answer would have been a resounding 'no'. Then they weren't enemies, but that was it. Now, however... Right now she was helping him with hero homework. "You know what, I think we might be getting there. Why?"

"Well, you see... I recently learned a lesson about telling my friends stuff."

"What is this, an after school special?"

"There's something I've been meaning to tell you." He fidgeted, with a very different nervous vibe than before. Earlier, he had been a package filled with happy energy. Now, he was worried. About her reaction, probably. "You're the first one I've ever told this... I'm not sure how to start."

The mood shifted with Phantom. Whatever was going on, it was Serious Business.

"Do you remember what I told, about why I joined the Team?"

"Sure, you need to be a ghost hero."

"Exactly." He nodded, like she'd said something profound. "I need to be a _ghost_ hero. I can't do that if I tell them the truth, but you deserve to know."

There was a sinking sensation.

Much too familiar rings formed around Phantom's waist.

Valerie wasn't breathing.

The rings parted, revealing the one person she had hoped wouldn't be there.

"Hi, Val," said Danny Fenton.

Valerie was very glad she was already sitting down. The inside of her mind only showed the blue screen of computer death.

"Valerie, are you okay? Say something."

Her brain rebooted. One word popped up. "Explain."

He did. It didn't make any sense. At the same time, it made too much sense.

"I see," she said. She sort of did.

He was moving slowly, carefully. Like he was afraid of spooking her. Or drawing the attention of a predator. She felt a fresh stab of shame.

"I'm not going to hurt you. I already took down my serial killer collage." Valerie said the words flatly, too emotionally spend to do anything else.

"Your _what_?"

"Never mind." Valerie shook her head. "Could you... Could you leave? Please?"

Danny looked disappointed, but he transformed back into Phantom and left without a word.

Only when the glowing figure disappeared did Valerie finally relax. She exhaled deeply. The exhale turned into a laugh. Soon, she was laughing so hard she was crying. Then the air left her like a deflating balloon, and she was just crying.

Only one thought remained through her emotional breakdown.

"I've been trying to kill _Danny._ "

Despair was replaced by anger.

"I was trying to kill Danny, and Danny didn't _tell_ me."

* * *

Robin let out a frustrated noise.

The Bat-computer seemed to mock him.

He had input all the information he had on Phantom; name, age, dead at least two years according to the first sightings of his ghost, death by lab accident.

It was the last part that cinched it. Lab accidents weren't a common way to go among teenagers. Even if he widened the search to other types of electrocution, he couldn't find Danny.

Somebody who died in a lab accident would leave a body easy to find, so he wouldn't just be reported missing...

Robin checked the missing persons just in case.

That was also fruitless. He was almost expecting it.

Had somebody covered-up his death? The company that owned the lab might have paid people to make sure the accident weren't connected to them...

Phantom had seemed to think being put in the stocks was perfectly normal. Given that he _wasn't_ a medieval ghost, that seemed highly questionable. His living conditions, back when he was still alive, must have been decidedly odd. Or maybe just abusive. Robin would need to keep an eye on that, it could be related to why Phantom had ended up dead.

Tracking the Doomed account of GhostBoy did absolutely nothing. Somebody had deleted all relevant information. The way it glitched when he tried to hack it reminded him of a horror flick he'd seen with Barbara once. There was possibly some ghostly influence behind it. Like the game was possessed or something. Or maybe a _really_ talented hacker had been having way too much fun in protecting Phantom's identity. In either case, that lead was a complete bust.

Of course, there was the matter of the time travelling. Phantom had admitted to being a teenager, but he had never mentioned being born sixteen years ago in any linear sense. Sure, he came from an era _after_ electricity, but that didn't actually narrow it down all that much. For all Robin knew, Phantom was from the eighties. That would explain the hair.

Plus, it was just the sort of thing Danny would hide just to see if they'd notice.

Robin pulled up old newspaper articles on Phantom. On Inviso-Bill. Even on _'the ghost boy',_ from way back when ghosts first started appearing in Amity Park. He stared at them for a long time. Whenever Phantom was from, he had been in the current time period for almost three years. That was enough time to pick up on most technological advances. It also fit the "impossible to find" part of Phantom's previous life.

Robin widened his search parameters and hoped Phantom wasn't from the future.

He was having too much fun with the investigation.

* * *

Valerie arrived at the Cave just in time to see several members of the Justice League leave. She recognized Hawkwoman, but the man dressed in an immaculate suit complete with a bow-tie and top hat was unknown to her.

She was too distracted to think much about that. She felt sick. There was a sour feeling in her stomach. If Batman hadn't summoned them for a mission, she would have gone to Wildcat's gym to distract herself with some boxing.

"Valerie. You missed the presentation." M'gann gave a small smile as she saw her uncle off at the Zeta beams.

"It doesn't matter. Not like he was going to say anything I didn't already know." Bitterness crept into her voice at the last part.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Valerie silently cursed herself. That was the weakest assurance she'd ever given.

To the surprise of no one, M'gann looked less than convinced.

"Just a bit exhausted, is all." Valerie smiled thinly.

"We've still got coffee in the kitchen, if you want some."

Valerie did. Very much. Burning the midnight oil had become a habit when she needed to study after working at the Nasty Burger and patrolling town. She mutely entered the kitchen and poured herself a cup.

"Be careful, it's hot."

Valerie downed it in one go, not even blinking as she scourged her tongue. Ugh, that was going to sting for days as it healed. Still, wonderful warmth spread from her belly, helping her relax ever so slightly. She felt more awake already.

M'gann picked up on it, and gave Valerie another comforting smile. That was something Valerie liked about the Martian; her earnest attempts at making the people around her happy. You didn't get that from the A-listers.

Valerie refilled her cup before following M'gann into the training room.

Batman, Black Canary and Red Tornado were still inside, standing off to the side and talking among themselves. In the middle of the room was Phantom, surrounded by the rest of the Team. Robin was waving around something that looked suspiciously like a two-sided lightsaber, glowing a soft ecto-green. They were talking animatedly.

Valerie hung back, uncomfortable.

That was the only reason she noticed that Superboy was similarly keeping his distance. M'gann gravitated towards him, and Valerie followed as an excuse to avoid Phant- _Danny_ a bit longer.

She felt like a coward, but she didn't know how to act. What did you even say to the guy you dumped so you could hunt his alter-ego? Furthermore, since she was still feeling resentful about the entire thing, she was at risk of blowing up at him.

Valerie took another sip of coffee.

Batman cleared his throat, causing everyone to immediately go quiet.

"This is the diamond of _fin_ _sten._ " Batman pressed a key, causing the image of a rather large gem to appear on the holo-screen. "It is part of a new exhibit opening on the National Museum in Metropolis in two weeks. Other than being valuable, there are legends that it is magic. We currently have no confirmation on this." Batman seemed annoyed with that, like he had repeatedly asked people to check it out but everyone had been too busy.

Valerie drank more coffee so she could hide her smirk behind the mug. Somewhere along the line, reading Batman's moods had stopped being utterly impossible. Maybe because he didn't seem to press his "Dark Knight" persona while around them. Now he seemed less like an icon and more like an actual person. No an approachable person, but a person none the less.

"The diamond was part of a temporary exhibit in Star City. There, people tried to steal it twice. It has since been moved to Central City, where there were five attempts. For the journey to Metropolis, you will protect it."

 _'At least after that, it's Superman's problem and not ours,'_ noted Wally. His tired but pleased tone of (mental) voice made it obvious he had helped protect the gem more than once while it was in his city.

 _'Couldn't they just Zeta it?'_ Phant- Danny cocked his head. _'That would be faster_ and _safer.'_

 _'Not if it_ is _magic. We have no way of knowing how the Zeta beams would interact with a mystical artifact.'_ Robin shrugged, the motion so small it was barely noticeable.

Batman politely pretended he didn't notice the interaction, since everyone quickly turned their attention back to him.

"You will travel by train."

* * *

The diamond, along with several other items from the museum, was inside a large train car. The crates things were packed in created a small maze, where only one pathway in the middle allowed uninterrupted view from one end to the other.

Since it wasn't a passenger train, there were no windows. Danny and Valerie took up guard by one door, while Aqualad and Kid Flash took the other. The rest of the Team gathered closer to the jewel they were protecting, in the middle of the car. Every once in a while, either Kid Flash would run through the inside of the rest of the train or Danny would fly around the outside, to check for intruders.

All in all, it was rather boring. Not to mention awkward, since Valerie was ignoring him.

He could have excused it as professionalism, but the way her jaw clenched whenever she even glanced in his direction told him otherwise.

She seemed angry with him.

He had expected that, really. He knew she wouldn't use the knowledge against him, not anymore, but that was all their friendship had bought him. If they were even friends anymore.

Danny sighed.

He hated the entire situation, but there was no way he could have done things differently. The situation was her fault as much as his.

Still, he wanted to patch things up between them. He just didn't know how.

His normal _modus_ _operandi_ would be to tell a joke to ease the tension. However, this was too serious for that. If he wanted to regain Valerie's friendship, he needed to take her feelings into account. Respect her space until _she_ approached _him_ again. Or at least calmed down enough to look at him.

As such, Danny did nothing to break the silence.

Which is why he heard as the sounds of the outside increased in volume for half a second, before returning back to normal.

The door next to him hadn't opened, he would have seen that, but _something_ had happened.

The train was less stuffy than before.

Danny floated over to where he had heard the sounds, to find a small hole in the wall, which had been haphazardly patched up. It was big enough for a human to slip through.

 _'We've got company.'_

 _'Understood.'_ Aqualad casually took a few steps into closer to the diamond. _'Everyone, be on alert.'_

Superboy shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

As if that was the signal they had been waiting for, the shadows moved.

Using Superboy's shoulders as a springboard, a humanoid figure landed next to the diamond.

A black bodysuit hugged a curvy body, her eyes were hidden behind goggles. There were cat ears on top of her head.

Robin's mental comment identifying her as _'Catwoman'_ felt unnecessary.

"Hello, Kitten." Catwoman smirked, looking at Robin.

Danny refrained from making a comment about the odd nickname purely by reminding himself that _Kitten_ still sounded more normal than _Little_ _Badger._

Kid Flash had no such restraints, if the mental snort was any indication.

"Didn't know you would be here." Catwoman made a show of looking around. "The diamond of _fin sten_ is much better guarded than I thought... Still, I'd hate to waste the trip." She smirked and kicked Artemis in the face.

That stopped their stand-still, and Superboy retaliated with a punch. Catwoman dodged, causing Superboy's fist to hit the box behind her – the one containing the diamond.

Predictably, the box couldn't take a Kryptonian punch. It broke into pieces of wood and the odd nail. The diamond bounced once before landing on Danny and Valerie's end of the train car.

Catwoman flipped over Superboy yet again, but Robin and Kid Flash intercepted her.

Danny and Valerie both reached for the diamond.

Their fingers brushed up against the stone at the same time.

Everything exploded.

Danny was thrown back, hitting the wall with a thud that he could barely make out over the ringing in his ears.

His body felt heavy as he sat up. Spots danced across his vision, not helping with his disorientation. He must have blacked out.

"Guess the stone really is magic, huh?" His voice sounded weird in his head. Too loud and too high. He cleared his throat, hoping that would help. "What happened?"

"Catwoman got away, with the diamond. It was still intact, somehow." Aqualad seemed even more grim than usual.

Danny chanced a glance between the receding spots, finding himself surrounded by the Team. Miss Martian didn't bother hiding her worry, while Artemis was biting her lip and avoiding eye contact. Kid Flash wouldn't stop fidgeting.

As Danny's vision cleared, he looked around for Valerie. Since she had been next to him when the gem exploded, there was a risk that she had gotten hurt.

He couldn't find her.

"Hey, where's-"

"We can't find Phantom."

What.

Danny's heart pounded in his ears.

Wait, Danny's heart was _beating?_

The weird heaviness suddenly made sense. He was _human_.

He could feel panic creeping up on him. His secret was blown, and Val was missing, and Catwoman had stolen the diamond of _fin sten._

Not good.

Danny pulled himself to his feet, determined to explain himself, when he noticed that his arms were covered in black and glowing red armour. Some further staring confirmed it, he _wasn't_ Danny Fenton.

He was Valerie Gray.

"Since Miss Martian can't reach Phantom mentally, we need to organize a search party. Your ghost sensors would be invaluable," continued Aqualad.

Danny opened his mouth, or rather – Valerie's mouth, before quickly closing it again. Telling them that M'gann couldn't reach him because he had been knocked out wasn't the way to begin the conversation. He took a deep breath before starting over. "No need. _I'm_ Phantom. I must have ended up overshadowing Red during the blast. I tried to go intangible, but I guess a magical attack can still affect me. It much have pushed me inside her, or something."

Aqualad's lips thinned. Superboy scowled. Robin's eyes narrowed.

"I'm just gonna... leave her now."

"That would be for the best," said Aqualad.

Danny tried to jump out of Valerie's body. It didn't work.

He scrunched up his face and tried harder. No effect.

"I'm stuck." Danny focused on not panicking. "This... this hasn't happened before. Overshadowing is supposed to be _easy._ It must be because of her suit."

Aqualad looked like he was developing a headache. He put two fingers to the bridge of his nose. "This morning, you said that you could let an overshadowed person take control, even without leaving. Please do so now."

Danny nodded before closing his eyes and focused on finding Valerie's mind and waking her up.

He couldn't sense her anywhere.

Fighting back his panic was getting harder and harder. "Miss M, could you... help me out? I don't think my powers are working as they should."

M'gann floated closer to him. She held her hands on either side of Danny's borrowed head, and her eyes started to glow.

He could sense her presence as she quickly shuffled through his mind.

There was a long, horrible moment where he waited for her to find Valerie's mind. It was broken when Miss Martian gasped and landed unbalanced on the floor. Superboy was at her side quickly, steadying her.

"She's not..." M'gann sounded _sad,_ and afraid. Then she blinked as a sudden suspicion overtook her. "Your eyes aren't glowing. I thought you said..."

"'Someone who is overshadowed is easily recognized by their glowing eyes,'" recited Robin.

"My powers must really be acting up." Danny clenched his fist, trying and failing to form an ecto-blast. "Come to think of it, I can't even feel my core. If I'm this low on power, maybe there's no juice left to go to my eyes."

"Or maybe the diamond of _fin sten_ has something to do with the situation," suggested Aqualad. "We know nothing about what kind of magic surrounds it. There have been no reports of it blowing up before."

"So you think Red might be okay?" Danny bit down on his lip. Or, well, Valerie's lip. Everything felt wrong.

"We need the diamond and a proper magician to find out," said Aqualad resolutely, not letting them dwell on the fact that since neither Danny nor M'gann could sense Valerie, she might be gone for good.

* * *

Valerie woke up with a muffled groan. Everything hurt.

The last thing she could remember was an explosion, so that made sense.

Wind ruffled her hair. She was outside? She could feel railroad tracks underneath her.

Had the explosion blown up the entire train?

As soon as that thought entered her mind, she was on her feet. There was vertigo, and her stomach lurched, but she pushed through it. The others could be hurt, and in need of her help. "Artemis? Miss Martian!? Phantom! ...Anyone?"

Nobody answered.

She looked around. There was no broken pieces of train laying across the tracks. Everything looked... normal.

She shook her head. Something was very, very wrong. Maybe the train had landed in the bushes.

She needed a flashlight. She held up her hand, attempting to form one on her wrist. The only problem was that she wasn't wearing her suit. Had it retreated while she was unconscious?

It was at that point that she realised that the arm she was holding up was A) too skinny, and B) white.

She looked down, and found a familiar white and red t-shirt. Danny's shirt.

 _'Okay... I'm in Danny's body.'_

For a human, he still _felt_ wrong. She was cold, and there was a weird pressure inside her chest. It wasn't painful, or even uncomfortable, but it wasn't normal.

 _'Guess he's never fully human, no matter what he looks like.'_

"Okay," she said out loud, because she needed to ground herself _somehow._ "This is obviously because of that stupid magic rock. All I need to do is find it and the others, and I'll be able to fix this mess."

She looked around, picked the direction she thought the train had been going, and started walking. She missed her hoverboard.

 _'I must have phased out of the train when we switched.'_

That meant the train might be whole, and all her teammates still okay.

That was good.

She let out a yelp as she stumbled, nearly falling over without any logical reason to. She looked down to find herself sinking through the ground.

Less good.

There was nothing nearby to grab onto, so she was forced to sink down to her elbows before she could pull herself up again.

"I hate ghost powers."

Right. Ghost powers. If she could turn into Phantom, she would be able to find the others much faster.

She mentally poked the cold spot in her chest.

Glowing rings formed around her waist.

 _'Okay. I can do this.'_

* * *

Danny did his best to only panic on the inside. He felt like sinking through the ground. Except he couldn't, because his ghost powers weren't responding.

"We need to find Catwoman and the diamond." At least Aqualad was calm, and stable like a big rock in a raging river. "Robin, do you-"

Danny's arm beeped. He stared at it as a screen unfolded, showing a map of the area. A white dot was approaching their position. _'Is that a ghost alarm?'_

"I can't do this!" screamed the ghost that, despite phasing into the train, lost hold of intangibility and crashed into the inner wall. "Ouch."

Danny took a hesitant step towards the ghost.

Black and white HAZMAT suit. White hair. The ghost turned around to reveal green eyes. And Danny's face.

 _'Phantom?'_

"Red Huntress?" asked Robin, which was a much more logical explanation than Phantom and Fenton accidentally splitting up again, leaving a human stuck doing an overshadow.

Kid Flash looked like he wanted to find a good stick to poke with.

The ghost that looked _like_ Danny looked _at_ Danny. "Phantom?"

Danny waved, a slow wave that was more a stretch of his fingers than anything else. "Red?"

"We switched bodies," confirmed Valerie. Her tone was _very_ annoyed.

Danny and Aqualad both looked at Miss Martian, who nodded. There was a smile blossoming on her face.

Robin and Kid Flash shared a look.

Superboy relaxed ever so slightly. It was hardly noticeable, but it was there.

Danny had to stop himself from going in for a hug. He was bouncing, feeling very energized as his earlier worries left him. "We thought you were dead! I mean... you _are_ dead. Technically. Since you're a ghost. But I'm sure we can fix that!"

"We better! Do you have any idea how hard it is to control this thing!?" As if to punctuate her point, Valerie's arm turned invisible. She almost looked resigned as she realised that.

 _Resigned_ was a weird look on Valerie.

"Yes." Danny settled for being blunt. "Not being able to control them is a normal part of just getting ghost powers. Though I would have thought you'd have an easier time, since my body's already used to it."

Valerie glared at him, eyes glowing.

"Cool it with the 'scary eyes'." Danny couldn't help but smirk. While it was weird to tell someone else that, it was surprisingly satisfying.

Valerie glared harder.

"Let's find Catwoman," sighed Aqualad.

* * *

They didn't find Catwoman.

Valerie wasn't surprised. Not really. They had given the thief too much of a head start.

"You two should stay in the cave, for the time being," said Batman as soon as they finished their debriefing.

Valerie was prepared to agree with him.

However, apparently Phantom was not, because he shook his head forcefully. "We've got a duty to Amity Park! We can't just abandon our city like this!"

"You're hardly in any condition to protect it, at the moment." Batman didn't look impressed.

"I'm sure we'll work it out," said Danny loudly, as if speaking louder would make people less likely to argue against him. He grabbed a hold of Valerie's arm, and pulled her towards the Zeta Tubes. She let him, if only because she _knew_ he was lying about them needing to go back to Amity Park to protect it – Phantom had some sidekicks he had refused to introduce her to, that took care of things while they were out on missions.

Come to think of it, if Danny Fenton was Phantom, the unidentified sidekicks were probably Manson and Foley.

"Call us if you find anything." Valerie gave them a small wave as she was pulled out of the room.

" **Recognized; Red Huntress, B08. Phantom, B09.** "

She waited until they materialized in the alley before roughly dislodging her arm from his grip. "Okay, ghost boy. What was that all about?"

"Whenever we've gone on missions, I've told my parents I'm spending the night at Tucker's house. It's summer, so they're fine with it."

Valerie gave a small noise of understanding, and waved at him to go on.

"The Foleys are visiting relatives in Seattle this week. My parents know that." He turned to face her. Seeing the familiar pleading expression on _her own_ face was several types of weird. "Please, Valerie... I need you to pretend to be me in front of my parents."

She was oddly reminded of the previous night, when Phantom had begged her for something much more trivial. There was a twinge of regret, deep within her chest. She had been much more willing to help him before he told her the truth.

She opened her mouth to answer, when a wave of ghostly energy travelled through her body. Her transformation fell away, revealing Danny Fenton.

"Also, I don't think you could stay as Phantom the whole night."

"Ugh, _fine."_ She practically spat the word, to get rid of the taste of it in her mouth. "But you owe me one."

"Thank you!"

"But you're not pretending to be me. I'm texting my dad and telling him the truth. Go to my room and _stay_ _there._ Don't talk to anybody. I won't have your bad acting ruin what's left of my reputation."

" _My_ bad acting?" Danny looked particularly offended. "You're the one standing like Phantom in human form."

That threw her for a loop. Valerie blinked in stunned silence. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You're too confident. Fenton is shy and awkward, he'd never stand like that. Make your posture worse and hang your head a bit."

Valerie hesitantly followed the instructions.

"Better." Danny nodded, pleased. "Remember, Fenton is a clumsy, lazy loser."

"You're not a loser." The words were out of her mouth before she realised she was saying them. "And you're not lazy... Can't argue with the clumsiness, though."

"I needed to explain my grades _somehow,_ right?" Danny shrugged and avoided eye-contact. "The clumsiness will come easy to you, since uncontrollable ghost powers mean you'll end up dropping things a lot. It also helps explain all my bruises."

"So Danny Fenton is just a mask you put on?" There was anger building in her chest, but she reined it in. Suit or no suit, Valerie was always acting like _herself._

"Phantom too, I'm not _really_ that cocky and overconfident..." Danny shrugged like it didn't matter. His casual body language was in sharp contrast with his tense tone of voice. "Pretending I am helps... When I fight. I'm really... At first, I had no idea what I was doing. Pretending to be brave, to be a hero... it helped."

"Which mask did I date?" She didn't even try to keep the accusation from her voice. It had been a lie. An act. It hurt, all the more so because she had been thinking along those lines ever since she found out Fenton was Phantom. Having those fears confirmed was more than she could take. "What type of _masquerade_ was the kind, easy-going, funny guy that went out with me?"

He gave her a wan smile. "That one wasn't a mask."

Inside her mind, there was the sound of breaking glass. Of destruction and pain and, most of all, _clarity._ Because underneath false bravado and equally false cowardliness, she could recognize the person she had gotten to know in both Fenton and Phantom. When given an image as seen through two different funhouse mirrors, she could make out what it really looked like.

Danny turned his back on her without waiting for her reaction, marching towards town again.

It took her a couple of seconds to find her bearings enough to follow him.

They walked in silence, before coming to the intersection where they needed to part. Danny stopped. As he turned towards her again, she wasn't sure what she hoped he would say.

"Jazz knows about the hole ghost-business. Tell her who you are, she'll help."

Whatever Val had been hoping for, that wasn't it.

Or maybe _he_ had been the one who was hoping for something from her.

Before she could say anything, Danny left.

He didn't look back.

She wasn't sure if she wanted him to.

 _'When did my life become so complicated?'_

Rather than do anything about her conflicting emotions, maybe call out to him while he was still in hearing distance and talk things through, she turned to walk away.

She promptly walked into someone.

"Watch where you're going," snarled Valerie, too emotionally exhausted to act like a decent human being.

It took her a moment to realise that the person she was glaring at was Jazz Fenton. A Jazz Fenton who was staring at her with wide eyes. As the shock passed, Jazz put her hands on her hips and raised an unimpressed eyebrow.

"Sorry," mumbled Valerie. "Bad day."

As soon as Valerie apologized, Jazz went from annoyed to concerned. "I can see that. Was that Valerie? Did you two have a fight?"

"It's complicated." Val started walking towards FentonWorks.

" _Danny._ " Apparently, Jazz had little patience for intentional vagueness.

"That's the complicated part. I'm Valerie. Danny was the one walking away in my body."

To her credit, Jazz seemed to accept her brother switching bodies with someone as a normal part of life. Valerie secretly worried about what type of life Jazz lived.

"Batman is working on finding the thing that switched us, but for now..."

"Danny asked you to cover for him."

"Yeeeeaaaah." Valerie drew out the word. "I have no idea what I'm doing."

Jazz nodded. "We just need to survive dinner, then you can escape to Danny's room. And fix your posture."

Valerie slouched over again, not having noticed that she'd returned to her normal, proud posture. "This is a bad idea."

"Hmm. Maybe not." There was something in Jazz's eyes. Valerie couldn't place it. She didn't know the older girl good enough to make any sense of her personality, having only really seen her around school enough to recognize her on sight.

Still, if Valerie was to hazard a guess, she'd say that Jazz looked _speculative._ Like she was seeing some sort of opportunity in the mess they were in.

Valerie was instantly on guard.

However, there was no opportunity to question Jazz on her epiphany, because they had reached the Fentons' home.

* * *

Damon Gray looked at the _boy_ who was currently stuck in his daughter's body.

Said boy squirmed.

Damon held back an evil smirk. "You sit right there, where I can see you. No funny business. Hands on your knees. Understood?"

"Yes, sir."

* * *

Valerie kept a crooked smile plastered on her face. Her time working the counter at the Nasty Burger was the only thing keeping her from visibly freaking out.

Next to her, Jack Fenton continued his story about what he would do if he ever caught Phantom.

His son.

He was talking about dissecting his son.

Valerie's hand turned invisible. She quickly hid in under the table.

Neither one of Danny's parents seemed to notice, they were too involved in their conversation. About dissecting their son.

There had been so much going on during the day, so many things to process, that she hadn't really considered the fact that Danny's parents were ghost hunters who regularly hunted Phantom.

Valerie hadn't realised how terrifying ghost hunters were, if you were on the other end. Judging by Jazz's smug satisfaction, that was the older girl had been hoping for.

It hurt to breathe. Every plan she had ever created against Phantom... Every single _interaction_ Valerie had ever had with Phantom was playing through her head, all his reactions to her attacking him, all the times he had tried to reason with her.

Had he kept his identity a secret because he had thought she wouldn't listen, would still attack him even if she knew? The way she didn't listen and still attacked Phantom after every time he tried to prove he wasn't evil?

There was a bad taste in her mouth. It was a good thing all the talk about dissection had already destroyed her appetite.

She could understand why Danny hadn't been willing to risk telling her sooner.

* * *

Danny had never been so thankful to be on a mission in his life.

Batman and Robin had found Catwoman, who was supposedly about to sell the diamond of _fin sten_ that same night.

He was looking at the old, abandoned warehouse from an equally broken down building across the street. Not being able to turn invisible on demand meant he needed to _actually hide,_ like a normal human being.

Valerie wasn't capable of turning invisible on demand either. As such, she was sitting next to him and glaring at the closest concrete wall.

"Your dad is scary." Danny spared his companion a glance. It was still weird to be talking to himself, but hopefully that wouldn't be a problem for long.

Valerie gave a weak laugh. "Right, _my_ dad is the scary one."

"He wouldn't let me pee." Danny knew he was whining, but it couldn't be helped.

"If it's any consolation, I haven't used the bathroom either." Valerie's voice was flat, and her face carefully blank. It seemed like it took a lot out of her to say it.

Someone moved in the warehouse.

"Oh thank Clockwork." Danny muttered the words under his breath.

Artemis and Superboy were on the perimeter, watching for the buyer's approach. They were prepared to intercept, before anyone else could get to the warehouse and complicate the situation.

Meanwhile, Robin and Miss Martian had hidden inside the warehouse. Aqualad and Kid Flash were in an alley, opposite of Danny and Valerie's position.

 _'She's here,'_ signaled Robin.

 _'Move in,'_ ordered Aqualad.

Danny summoned Red's hoverboard, which was thankfully as easy as thinking about it, and flew towards the warehouse. When they drew near the building, Valerie placed a hand on his shoulder and phased the two of them inside. He gave her a thumbs-up, since he had been half expecting them to fly head-first into the wall.

She didn't dignify the gesture with a response, but he thought he saw her smirk as she turned away.

Danny landed, stumbling and cursing gravity, before running in for an attack.

Catwoman easily avoided Danny's clumsy punch. Despite having spent nearly an entire day as Valerie, her body still didn't make sense, her arms were too long and her center of gravity too low. It was like having gone through a growth spurt.

Robin moved in when Danny fell back, trying to remember all types of weapons Valerie carried. Surely she had _something_ that was useful.

Deciding on a taser, Danny rejoined the fight.

Considering how he couldn't even touch the thief, his approach was less than effective.

On the far end of the warehouse, Valerie was trying and failing to produce ecto-blasts.

"Just hand over the diamond," Danny said in frustration. "As good as it is to be fully alive again, I don't _want_ to be a teenage girl."

Valerie was apparently in agreement, because she joined the close quarters fight with a "I am not spending the rest of my days like this!"

Catwoman sent a bemused look in Robin's direction.

"The explosion made them switch bodies. Magic, you know?"

"Oh." She appeared to pause, even as she blocked a punch from Kid Flash and used Aqualad's shoulders as a springboard. "Yikes. Well, then."

The diamond of _fin sten_ was suddenly flung in Valerie's direction. She caught it, more nimble than Danny would be in her situation.

"Seeing as I have a strong gut feeling my buyer won't show up, I guess I won't be needing that anymore." Catwoman sent a smirk towards the rest of the Team.

Danny was too stunned to offer sarcastic commentary.

Catwoman exited the warehouse left, pursued by a speedster.

"Do we count pity victories as victories?" Danny stared at the innocent-looking gem.

"Sure, why not," offered Robin.

"At least you'll get your own body back," noted Aqualad.

"Yay," said Valerie weakly.

"So... I guess we touch it again?"

"That's what we did last time."

Valerie held out the stone. Danny hesitantly brought up his hand, before placing two gloved fingers on the smooth surface.

The explosion was no less energetic than before, but this time they were prepared for it.

Danny quickly pulled back his hand, which was closed tightly around the diamond from where Valerie had left it.

Valerie had opened her helmet to gently touch her face, and run her fingers through her long curls.

"Did it work?" Robin's head was tilted, his eyebrows raised.

"Yeah." Danny smiled, his glowing aura expanding slightly as he floated in the air.

Danny and Valerie smiled at each other in perfect understanding, before suddenly scrambling towards the door. "Toilet!"

* * *

They didn't catch Catwoman. Valerie couldn't bring herself to feel too bad about that.

She and Danny were, once again, going home from the industrial area where the Zeta tube was located. Unlike the last time, both of them were airborne. It was much too late to take the longer route. Her hoverboard felt like heaven underneath her feet. Flying without one had felt too... uncontrolled.

Amity Park at night was pretty. A patchwork of lights coming from the houses underneath them was echoed in the stars above.

"Hey, Danny." She didn't speak loudly, half hoping he wouldn't hear her.

Glowing green eyes turned her direction, letting her know she hadn't gone unnoticed.

"I think I understand why you didn't tell me before and... I'm sorry. About making you feel like you couldn't trust me with the truth."

Danny smiled gently. After a second or two, it grew into a teasing smirk. "Don't act like you're special, I've never trusted anyone with my secret."

"Wouldn't that make me special?" Valerie rolled her eyes, holding back a smile.

"Hmmm." Danny scratched his chin as he pretended to think about it. "You've got me there."

She looked away. "I hope we can still be friends, even though..."

"That's up to you." He looked pensive. "I know you, but if you don't feel like you know _me_ anymore..."

"Well then... I say we're friends." She said it with as much resolution as she could muster. There could be no confusion on the subject.

"Friends it is." Danny's smile widened into something happy.

Valerie mirrored his expression.

* * *

 **AN:** " _Fin_ _sten"_ is just Swedish for "pretty stone", because coming up with names is hard.

I wanted Danny to actually _tell_ Valerie the truth, on his own terms, since he never got to do that with _anybody_ in canon.


	7. Split

**Split**

The sun stood high in the sky, leaving precious little shade to escape the last of the summer heat. A lazy breeze drifted through an empty cornfield in the middle of nowhere, Kansas. It was the perfect place to play hide-and-seek, if one was so inclined and reckless enough to risk getting lost for real. The very image of rural innocence. The closest "town" was named Smallville, for crying out loud.

The calm quiet was abruptly interrupted as something landed in the field, blowing up a cloud of dust. An angry Kryptonian clone rose from the fresh crater.

Superboy gave a guttural roar before pulling himself to his feet and jumping away.

At the other side of an old barn, the Team fought Toyman, who was inside a giant humanoid robot.

Cadmus' programming did little to explain the robot's red uniform jacket, other than it resembling the ones worn by British royal guards. Superboy wasn't sure how that related to toys, though. Cadmus didn't rank toys high on the list of things their super weapon needed to know.

The robot's head contained the cockpit, and the glass eyes were windows. It was a ridiculous design, with too many blind spots and a badly positioned center of gravity.

Lasers and ecto-blasts mixed with Robin's and Artemis' explosives. Miss Martian was telekinetically throwing rocks, while Aqualad and Kid Flash weaved in and out of the action to get in direct hits.

Superboy jumped again, aiming for the robot's head. He was unceremoniously swatted away, like an annoying fly.

That comparison did little to cool his temper.

The laser cannons were in the palms of the robot's hands, humming and glowing red. Seemingly realising the futility of trying to hit moving targets close to its legs, Toyman turned the weapons towards the very stationary Artemis. Her eyes widened, but there was nothing to hide behind next to a field of wheat. The glowing increased as the weapons loaded, a split second of time that Phantom used to move in front of his teammate. The weapon fired, bright against Superboy's retinas. When the dust cleared, a shining green shield stood steady against the onslaught, leaving the people behind it safe and sound.

Before the weapon can charge again, Superboy jumped onto the robot's back. He didn't think it through or anything, that was just the closest big surface he could land on, but it worked out great. Being built like a human, the back of the robot was one big blind spot.

For lack of a better strategy, Superboy started punching where the metal plates connected. The mental dented beneath his fist, and soon there was a small hole where electronics peaked out. As Superboy reached out to yank at the exposed cords, the robot lurched forward. With only one hand still gripping the thing, Superboy lost his footing and fell to the ground.

 _'Aqualad, aim for the back.'_ Superboy's eyes narrowed at the visible weak spot.

 _'I doubt I can_ reach _the back.'_ Aqualad fell back slightly as he analysed the situation.

 _'If you can't go to it, it has to come to you.'_ Kid Flash sounded smug. _'Red, help me out here.'_

Understanding what he was getting at, Red Huntress shot a net from the bottom of her hoverboard. It narrowly missed the robot's left leg, opening without capturing anything, before Kid Flash sped in and pulled the rope connected to RH's board several loops around the robot's legs.

 _'Timbeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer!'_ Kid Flash grinned.

Miss Martian aimed a large rock at the robot's back. That was the last push needed to make it fall over.

Before Toyman could salvage the situation, Aqualad climbed onto the robot and pushed his hands into the hole. As his tattoos glowed, arcs of lightning shot out of the hole, before the robot stilled. All the previously shining lights powered down.

 _'All right!'_

 _'Good job, team.'_

 _'That was asterous!'_

 _'… I don't think that's a word.'_

Superboy pulled back from the others as Robin, Kid Flash and Phantom started exchanging high-fives. Aqualad and Miss Martian were digging out Toyman, while Artemis and Red Huntress stood off to the side and talked.

Nobody seemed too bothered by Superboy's absence, until Phantom turned to look in his direction.

When it seemed like Phantom was going to fly over to him, Superboy turned around and stomped away.

He didn't think of it as avoiding his problem.

That didn't stop it from being the truth.

He just couldn't stop a chill from going down his spine every time he looked at the ghost. He kept getting flashbacks to when Plasmius had possessed him, which in turn gave him flashbacks to when Cadmus had used Genomorphs to control him. It left him unsettled and prickly.

When confronted with M'gann having the same ability, he had snapped at her and nearly ruined their budding friendship. He didn't want to make the same mistake with Phantom.

Unfortunately, that left 'avoiding him' as the only solution Superboy could come up with.

Superboy kicked a rock, finding himself near the pile M'gann had dug from during the battle.

Something at the bottom, barely unearthed from the dirt and the rocks, glimmered in the sunlight.

Curious, and looking for a distraction, Superboy nudged it with his foot.

It was a piece of... glass? Gemstone? It was dark, nearly black. When the light hit it from a different angle, it looked blue or purple. It was fascinating.

Superboy picked it up.

The rock started to glow.

Superboy regretted his choices.

Then, several things happened at once. There was an overwhelming sense of vertigo and double vision. Then, there was a flash of _dark_ light, which Superboy's confused mind pointed out _didn't make sense,_ and he dropped to the ground.

When he got to his feet, he wasn't alone anymore.

There was a second of dreamlike confusion, where he thought he was looking in a mirror. Except there was no reason for a mirror to suddenly have appeared on a farm in Nowhere, Kansas.

Then the other scowled, while Superboy's own face remained blank, and the illusion was shattered.

* * *

Danny was having a great time. Compared to protecting Amity Park, going on missions with the Team was... not frustrating.

Maybe it was because they weren't facing the same weak villain over and over and over again.

Or maybe it was the company. As great as Sam and Tucker were, they weren't quite the same as a proper team of teenaged superheroes.

As horrible as it felt to acknowledge it, even to himself, it was partly because Sam and Tucker weren't his equals when it came to crime fighting. They were, as they had openly admitted, more of a support team than anything else.

Danny laughed at one of Robin's bad jokes.

Everything would be perfect if only Superboy would stop being angry at him. Or whatever it was that was going on.

Danny sneaked a look in the Kryptonian's direction, and was rewarded by a less-than-hostile glare.

 _'I doubt I'll get a better opening.'_

However, as soon as he made a motion to go over there, Superboy turned around and walked away.

Danny halted.

Kid Flash and Robin both glanced towards their retreating teammate.

"So, does SB hate me or am I just imagining things?" Danny tried to keep his tone nonchalant, but he didn't really succeed.

"He's always grumpy." Kid Flash gave an exaggerated shrug.

Robin frowned. "I don't think that's the problem..."

Before Robin could elaborate, a bright purple light came from Superboy's direction.

Everyone stopped what they were doing. As one, they turned towards Aqualad. While he and Miss Martian were busy detaining their bad guy, he gave the others a sharp nod. Miss Martian, however, bit her lip as she looked between Toyman and Superboy. Seeing this, Valerie grabbed onto the villain's arm and shooed off Miss Martian.

They approached the light quickly but carefully.

Kid Flash obviously went a bit faster than the others, but the distance was so short that it hardly mattered, making Danny crash into his back when the speedster abruptly stopped.

Neither of them fell over, though KF had to take a stumbling step forward while Danny used his complete lack of respect for gravity to righten himself in the air.

It took a few seconds, maybe less, but he found himself facing whatever had caused that light.

Superboy, a suspicious black stone and _another_ Superboy. The two of them looked identical, down to the tears in their jeans.

Kid Flash offered Danny a disbelieving look. "Did you hit my head? I'm seeing double."

"I hit your _shoulder,_ " huffed Danny.

"Then why am I seeing double?" KF smirked, his tone smug enough to make it obvious that the question was rhetorical.

Danny decided to point out the obvious anyway. "Because Superboy suddenly learned duplication or something. Though I didn't know that was a Kryptonian power..."

"It's not." Robin eyed the two Superboys with some apprehension.

"Shapeshifting?" suggested Artemis. "Anyone want to play 'spot the impostor'?"

Miss Martian's eyes glowed for a moment, before she shook her head. "Both of them feel like Superboy."

One of the Superboys scowled at her. "That is obviously not me."

Robin sat down and poked the glowing rock with a stick from his utility belt.

"Come on, SB." Danny put his hands behind his head, leaning into them. "At this point, you just need to-"

"Don't tell me what to do." The leftmost Superboy got to his feet, still scowling. He took a few stomping steps forward before jabbing a finger at Danny's chest. "You don't control me!"

Once the initial shock passed, Danny found himself scowling right back at Superboy. He floated a little higher, so he was looking down on Superboy rather than the other way around. "Well, _maybe_ I'm not trying to! _Maybe_ I'm just trying to give you some advice! Have you considered that!?"

Superboy took a step forward, putting them uncomfortably close together, but Danny refused to back up.

In Danny's peripheral vision, the rest of the Team fidgeted in unease. Several of them looked ready to interfere.

"And I'm a ghost; If I wanted to control you, I wouldn't bother with _telling_ you what to do," snarled Danny.

Danny knew that was the wrong thing to say as soon as the words left his mouth, but he was too angry to care.

Superboy tensed, his jaw clenched and his fingers curling into a fist that he pulled back.

Before the fist could connect with Danny's face, the other Superboy caught his double's arm. "Don't you dare hurt my friends."

The Superboy who had first attacked, which Danny silently dubbed Mean Superboy, glowered before pulling away his captured arm. Nice Superboy let him go, but took another step to put himself in front of Danny.

Danny wished Aqualad hadn't left with Toyman. Having the Team's most mature member on site would have been nice.

Meanwhile, the Superboys seemed to be taking more and more offence to each other's entire existence.

Rather than backing down, Mean Superboy threw another punch. Predictably, this made Nice Superboy return the favour.

"I was going to say 'At this point, you just need to _not kill each other_ '," mumbled Danny to himself as the fight continued.

"Yeah, we should probably break them up." Kid Flash nodded.

"I think this is some sort of Kryptonite," said Robin, who was still poking the glowing stone.

"How many types of Kryptonite _are_ _there?"_ Artemis frowned, sounding incredulous, but without looking away from the continuously escalating fight. Her fingers were wrapped tightly around her bow.

"A lot." Robin smirked, his tone light. "But this one... This is new. Maybe if we get both Superboys to touch it at once, they'll fuse back together."

Kid Flash shook his head emphatically. "They might just end up splitting again. We don't want to deal with _four_ Kryptonians."

Miss Martian's lips thinned into a worried line.

"I think that's a risk we're just going to have to take," mumbled Danny.

* * *

Superboy was feeling... not angry, oddly enough. He fought with an almost mechanical style, remembering everything Black Canary had taught him, in order to make sure his double didn't attack his teammates again.

In contrast, said double appeared to be operating on nothing _but_ anger.

It should have given Superboy an advantage, but his double didn't seem to feel the hits he took – while Superboy himself was acutely aware of the blossoming pain in his ribs from two punches to the chest. The other Superboy sure could pack a punch.

He wondered if this was what it would be like to fight Superman, but he quickly pushed the thought away. He couldn't let himself get distracted.

Superboy punched his double, who flew halfway across the field with the force from the impact.

Before he could jump over to continue the fight, Kid Flash sped to stand in front of him. "Supey, stop! We've got a plan."

Miss Martian and Artemis ran past them, likely planning to distract the doppelgänger.

Robin and Phantom joined them, Phantom keeping his distance. A twinge of something unpleasant, that he couldn't quite place, went through Superboy as he noticed that.

"Take this. We can probably use it to fuse the two of you back together." Robin held out the black stone that had started the hole mess, waiting for Superboy to take it.

He hesitated for a second before closing his fingers around it. Nothing happened.

Kid Flash exhaled loudly. There was a small smile on his face as some of his worry melted away.

"I'd rather not fuse together with _that,"_ Superboy gestured towards the raging doppelgänger.

"You can't stay separated, he'll hurt someone." Kid Flash's brows knitted in a frown.

"And you can't kill half of yourself. That would only end horribly," said Phantom with complete conviction.

Superboy opened his mouth, before silently closing it and shaking his head. They didn't get it.

"We'll need to make the other one stay still, somehow." Phantom looked towards the ongoing battle.

"That's why I have this." Robin reached into his utility belt, producing a small shard of green. It glowed when he held it up, and Superboy had to fight off a sudden vertigo. He took a few steps back until the weakness disappeared.

"Batman gave you Kryptonite!?" Kid Flash's eyes widened.

"I'm on a Team with a Kryptonian he doesn't know, _of course_ he gave me Kryptonite."

Superboy knew he should be annoyed by the lack of trust, but he wasn't. It was almost worrying, but even that emotion felt foreign to him.

Maybe getting split into two people had affected him more than he had initially realised.

Robin turned to Phantom. "You can get this close to him without getting hurt, if you stay intangible. It should buy us time."

"Yeah, that could work." Phantom nodded, eyes filled with determination. He held out his hand to get the piece of Kryptonite.

As soon as the mineral made contact with the ghost's glove, it sparked with electricity. Phantom's face scrunched up with pain and he gasped, pulling his hand back. The shard fell harmlessly to the ground.

"Ghosts are allergic to glowing green space rocks?" Kid Flash frowned as he looked from Phantom to the Kryptonite.

"I... ah... I guess?" Phantom cradled his hand to his chest, visibly shaken.

"Okay, new plan. _I'm_ on Kryptonite duty and Phantom possesses the other Superboy." Kid Flash picked up the Kryptonite, not at all affected by touching the thing. "That'll make him stand still long enough."

Superboy felt his hackles raise at the prospect of being possessed, even if it was only the other him.

He was thankful at least that much emotion remained in him.

Phantom looked over, his eyes narrowing as he took in Superboy's reaction.

Robin shook his head. "If Phantom is affected by touching green Kryptonite, he'll probably react to the black version too."

"I'd rather not get split in half, thanks." Phantom's voice was flat, almost sarcastic, but his hands gripped tightly onto his arms as he crossed them over his chest.

"You can jump out of him at the last second," protested Kid Flash. "We just need him to keep still a bit."

"Don't possess me." Superboy scowled, glaring at the three of them.

"We're fighting an angry Kryptonian," argued Kid Flash. "We can't hold back."

Phantom's eyes widened with realisation. A smile spread across his face. "Of course. Why didn't I think of that?"

" _Please_ tell me you didn't just have the realisation that you _shouldn't hold back_ against the angry Kryptonian." Kid Flash dragged a hand over his face.

Phantom smiled sheepishly, a hand scratching at the back of his neck. "I didn't think about it, but Kryptonians are durable... and have super hearing. This is sort of a perfect situation for this particular move."

Robin and Kid Flash looked at each other, seemingly checking if the other understood what was going on.

"Superboy." Phantom turned fully towards him, initiating eye contact. "It's your... double. It's your choice. We don't know if injuries transfer after you've fused together again, so we'll have to assume that they do. Either I overshadow him and you get away with minimal damage, or I beat the fudge out of you to make you stay still."

Superboy didn't even have to think about it. "Kick my butt."

"Okay," Phantom nodded to himself before turning back to Robin. "If you have any bat-earplugs, you should use them."

"What are you gonna do?" Robin frowned as he pulled out the earplugs and handed them over to Superboy. The earplugs had small yellow bat-symbols on them.

"I'm going to yell at him." Phantom seemed distracted, looking at the ongoing battle rather than the person he was talking to. "As soon as Miss M and Artemis clears out."

"They're already far away from him," noted Robin. "That's why they are the ones facing him – long distance fighter."

"I guess." Phantom puckered his mouth as he looked between the fighters, making some sort of mental calculations.

Kid Flash and Robin shared another _look._

"Do you have some power you haven't told us about?" Kid Flash's body stiffened. His foot tapped a fast rhythm against the ground.

"Yes, and it takes a lot of energy. I'm going to be basically useless afterwards... So act quickly." Phantom spared a glance at Superboy, eyes conveying the seriousness of the statement, before flying off.

"Okaaaaaaaay then." Kid Flash still seemed irritated.

Robin shrugged with casual indifference, probably faked.

Superboy prepared himself.

Phantom landed in front of the double, who abandoned his futile attempts at throwing rocks at Miss Martian.

A small part of Superboy put special attention to how Phantom had _landed._ The ghost rarely did that, even when relaxing around the cave.

Phantom dug in his heels, stance wide.

The other Superboy went in for a punch.

Phantom _screamed._

The double's fist couldn't connect, as he was blown away with the force of the sound waves.

It was like Black Canary's Canary Cry, except bigger and... it sounded quite unlike anything Cadmus had ever downloaded into his brain. Or anything he had heard since escaping, for that matter. It was a wail filled with the pain of dying, thousands of voices of shared misery.

Despite the earplugs, despite the distance, despite the fact that Phantom was facing the other way, Superboy's head rang with the sound.

The double didn't stand a chance against it. He was pushed back, even as he tried to fight against it. His ears were bleeding.

It was over in three heartbeats, and Phantom fell limply to the ground. There was no time to worry about that.

Superboy rushed over to his double, who was lying on his back in the dirt.

However, when the time came to bring the black Kryptonite down on his double, he hesitated. The other was _so angry._ It was nice to not have to feel that.

That split second's pause was enough time for the other to bring a sweeping arm towards the hand that held the Kryptonite. Without touching it, the double was able to make him drop the piece. It hit the ground, bouncing and spinning further away from them. Still, it didn't break from the impact.

In Superboy's distraction, his double was able to flip them over and pin him beneath himself. The double's face was twisted into an expression of pure rage.

In the corner of Superboy's eyes, he could see M'gann. She was limping, a bruise forming on her face. Behind him somewhere, Phantom still lay unmoving.

Superboy pushed back, stretching out his arm towards the black Kryptonite even as his double drove his fist into his face.

Shaking fingers closed around the shard.

As much as it pained him, he couldn't control his anger issues if they were running around on their own.

Superboy drove the piece of Kryptonite like a dagger into his doppelgänger's chest.

There was a flash of paradoxical dark light, and he felt himself twisting.

Two halves became one whole, and Superboy was sitting on the ground with the piece of black Kryptonite laying beside him. He scrambled away from it.

His ears were bleeding and he could barely hear anything. It was like listening through a "sound proof" wall. Other than that, his ribs ached and his face felt swollen.

His heart was still pounding hard, but his mind wasn't clouded by the red haze of anger that had plagued him... No, that had plagued his double.

Two sets of conflicting memories battled in his head until one thought rose above the others.

Phantom.

Superboy forced himself to his feet and walked over to his friend.

"Phantom, are you-"

Kid Flash appeared in a blur of red and yellow, shaking Phantom's shoulders. "Hey, wake up!"

"I'm awake," grumbled Phantom with a hoarse voice. Superboy could barely make out the words. "Just exhausted."

Superboy let go of the breath he had been holding. Relief flooded through his veins.

Phantom lifted his head, which looked like a struggle. His eyes were barely open. Kid Flash helped him sit up. "Just for reference, am I still holding onto my ghost form?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Artemis joined them, a hand on her hip.

"I told you already," Phantom coughed dryly. "A ghost's physical form is made of power and will. Right now, I'm kind of low on power."

"You're not gonna dissolve into ectoplasmic goo, are you?" Kid Flash looked torn between continuing supporting the ghost and pulling away his hands before they got covered in goo.

Phantom blanched at the mental image.

"If it's that bad, why-" Superboy was too stunned to scowl.

Phantom waved it off. "Even if I lost my form, it wouldn't hurt me. I'd just need some extra time to pull myself together."

From the serious look in his eyes, there was probably more to it. However, Superboy didn't push.

After everything that had happened, he could allow Phantom that much.

* * *

Danny floated through the cave.

He couldn't bring himself to regret using his Ghostly Wail, even though he'd almost revealed his secret to the Team.

The look on Superboy's face when he had been faced with an alternative to overshadowing had just been too much.

Debriefing afterwards had been horrible. Between having nearly no energy and getting lectured by Black Canary on how he should have turned to her regarding their shared power, there had been no time to talk to Superboy before he had to rush home to turn human and rest.

Still, at least now he had an idea of what he should do to fix things between them.

Danny found Superboy sitting in a bed in med bay, looking displeased with life in general. M'gann was sitting by his side as company.

The martian smiled as she noticed Danny in the doorway. He smiled weakly back at her. She took the hint and cleared out.

"Hi," Danny cleared his throat. It had been acting up ever since he'd used the Wail, but that was to be expected.

Superboy nodded curtly at him. It didn't seem to be any malice in it, just the clone's usual lack of tact.

"I'm sorry about your ears." The words came out as little more than a painful whisper.

"You're gonna have to speak up, my ears aren't fully healed yet."

 _Great_ , the guy who couldn't speak was talking to the guy who couldn't hear. Just _great._

"I said I'm sorry about your ears!" Danny raised his voice as much as he could.

Superboy's mouth twitched.

"Are you messing with me!?" Despite his continued shouting, he was more shocked than angry.

"A little bit."

With a huff, Danny lowered himself to float in a sitting position above one of the chairs surrounding the bed. "And here I got you a present and everything."

Danny pulled up his peace offering, dropping it onto the white sheet covering Superboy's legs.

"A belt?"

"It's a Specter Deflector. Anti-ecto technology. If you're wearing it, no ghost can touch you."

"Really?" Superboy's eyes widened with surprise as he looked down on the unassuming metal belt.

"Yeah. You just push the button to turn it on."

Superboy stared at the belt without moving.

"Well, aren't you gonna put it on?"

That shook the clone from his reverie. "Maybe later, when we're on a mission." He offered Danny a smile. "I don't think I need it right now."

Danny smiled back. His heart felt much lighter than before. "Okay then."

* * *

Danny tried not to squirm.

Robin was looking at him, reeking suspicion. Except the suspicion didn't seem to be aimed at Danny.

Aqualad completed their trio, as they stood in a corner in the training room. The rest of the Team were in the kitchen celebrating Superboy's regained health, which left them some measure of privacy.

"Ghosts are affected by Kryptonite."

"Apparently," Danny shrugged. "I didn't know. I don't run into many glowing green space rocks on an average day."

"You said your reaction was unlike that of a Kryptonian?" Aqualad's brows furrowed together.

"It was similar but different." Robin did something to the holographic screens, pulling up images of Kryptonite.

"Yeah," agreed Danny. "As long as I didn't touch it, there was no pain or anything. I didn't get weak just from being near it."

Aqualad gave a small hum, lost in contemplation.

"What _I_ want to know," said Robin. "Is how you'd react to _red_ Kryptonite."

Danny blinked at the images that his teammate pulled up on the screen. "Why?"

"Because the red Kryptonite we ran into was found outside of _your_ town."

"Right." Danny frowned, but nodded. "What does that do to Kryptonians? Maybe my reaction is like the green version – similar but different."

"It affects their emotions," explained Robin. "Makes them lose their inhibitions. They become reckless and dangerous. Also, kind of dark."

Danny had to push away all his thoughts about how Robin had gotten that information. Imagining the big blue boyscout having a _dark side_ was just weird.

Dark side.

"It makes someone 'unleash their dark side'?" Danny could barely breathe. It was a good thing he didn't have to.

"I guess you could put it like that." Robin tilted his head, obviously not understanding the context behind those words, but noticing Danny's reaction.

It made sense. The place they had found the pieces of red Kryptonite was where he had broken Freakshow's staff. He just hadn't remembered it until the puzzle inside his head was solved.

"Did anyone ever tell you about that time I went on a crime spree and robbed a bunch of banks?"

Robin nodded, while Aqualad frowned.

"There was mind control involved, and red Kryptonite was the conduit."

"I see." Aqualad relaxed slightly, previous tension gone.

"What I don't get it is why Lex Luthor would want to mind control ghosts." Danny frowned. "Is hypnosis something he's interested in?"

Robin waved it off. "Nah, he probably just wanted it because of how it affects Kryptonians. He _is_ Superman's arch-enemy, after all."

"I guess."

Still, Danny had a bad feeling about it.


	8. Bereft

**Bereft**

Danny's mouth was dry.

The taste of sand was the first thing he became aware of, followed by an ache going through his body. It was dull, distant and recognizable. Left-over hurt from something that happened while he was in ghost form.

Blinking away even _more_ sand, he sat up.

Why was he in a _desert_ in the middle of the night, of all _possible_ places?

 _'How?...'_ Danny felt a chill going up his spine. _'I don't know how I ended up here.'_

A long time ago, this sort of discovery would have made him panic. Any normal person would have panicked.

Danny was mostly just annoyed. He had come to accept the fact that he wasn't normal anymore.

Walking up in a weird place without any knowledge of how he had gotten there was, unfortunately, pretty standard at this point.

As to which of his enemies would go through all the trouble of sedating him only to drop him off (mostly) unharmed in some remote location... Well, there really was only one who would do something like that.

"Skulker!" Danny's shout sounded odd, and felt his dry throat felt worse after the pitiable attempt.

That the ghost was no-where in sight only meant that Danny was being given a head-start in this hunt.

 _'Wonderful.'_

Sarcasm was, at times, a poor weapon.

It was then that he noticed an irregularity in his kidnapped-by-Skulker- _again_ theory. Namely, the sky.

It wasn't green.

Repeat, the sky was not a swirling green mass. It was black, starry and decorated by a full moon.

He wasn't in the Ghost Zone.

What was he doing in a desert in the _human world?_

The amateur astronomer in him located Taurus, which only confused things further. It meant that he was in the Northern Hemisphere, which was nice. (Even though it didn't really narrow it down.) However, Taurus wasn't visible in the spring... Not knowing how he had ended up in the desert was _fine_. Losing something like six months? Not so much.

 _'Maybe I fell through a natural portal in the Ghost Zone.'_ Danny frowned. _'Then there's no telling_ when _I am. I might be in the distant past or... anywhere! I'll need to find the portal I came through before it closes.'_

He got to his feet with some difficulty. Not just due to the aching of his joints, but because he was carrying his back-pack. It wasn't balancing as it would when filled with school books.

By opening it and looking inside, Danny only became more confused. _'Water bottles?'_ He took a mouthful of water, thankful for it. The bottles _had to be_ a big clue in the mystery. Somebody had _prepared_ for Danny's stay in the desert. This wasn't some accident. Skulker would definitely not give him water bottles, since ghosts rarely had any idea of what humans needed. It almost seemed like Danny had packed the bag himself.

But that was ridiculous.

Because it meant that he had _planned_ on going there.

* * *

Valerie's arms shook as she pushed herself up to a seated position.

Her mood soured the more of the situation she took in. Anger mixed with an undercurrent of anxiety, and she gladly gave in to her rage if only to keep the panic at bay.

Valerie's entire body ached, her muscles protested her every movement, but she didn't seem to be physically hurt. There were no patches that felt like they were bruising, no burns from ectoplasmic attacks.

Beneath her was rough sand, filled with sharp pebbles. She was in a desert? Either that or a very large beach. Of course, the second option was mere wishful thinking – the air didn't taste like salt, and was much too dry for the ocean to be nearby.

It was hard to see, however, and she found herself wishing for a light.

As soon as Valerie finished the thought, a red glow spread from a triangle on her chest outwards in thin lines across the rest of her body. She looked down, staring in wonder.

She wasn't wearing her normal suit. The comfortable red fabric and hidden pockets were nowhere to be seen, replaced by some sort of dark armour. Whether it was black another colour was hard to see, given the harsh red lighting.

Standing in a desert, with no idea how she ended up there, all alone and glowing, Valerie felt very exposed. As if reading her thoughts, the strange new armour turned off the lights.

Valerie blinked in mute confusion as she stared at her hand, curling and uncurling her fingers. It really seemed like the new suit was controlled by her mind.

 _'Let's hope it has a hoverboard.'_

* * *

Danny had eventually picked a direction and started flying, hoping to find something – anything – that could help him get home.

Between the dark sand below him and the sky stretching out above, it was almost painfully beautiful. If he looked up, he could imagine he was in space.

That was why he forced himself to look down. He was in an unexplained desert, he couldn't afford to get distracted when ghost hunters could pop up at any time.

The desert that passed below him was unremarkable. Just rocks, rocks, cliffs, some sand, a rock that looked kind of like a guy lying passed out in the dirt, more rocks...

Danny stopped.

One of those wasn't actually a rock.

Hesitantly, he flew back, landing next to the human-shaped shadow. A glowing green fist illuminated a knocked out teenager. He was a black guy, slightly older than or the same age as Danny, with distinctive tattoos, light hair, and gills.

What was a guy with _gills_ even doing in the desert?

Danny hadn't panicked over finding himself lost in the desert, because he knew how to handle that.

An aquatic person in need of medical attention, however, was quite removed from what he usually dealt with.

 _'Focus, Fenton.'_ Danny pulled up the two still full water bottles from his back-pack. _'He's probably an Atlantean. And_ even if _he's something else, he definitely needs water. Otherwise he wouldn't have gills. And he's in a desert. It's a good thing I found him, really, because any longer...'_

Danny's hands were shaking and knew his breathing was shallow, but he wasn't sure what to do about it. The Atlantean boy was clearly in pain, possibly dying.

 _'Do I pour the water on his gills or in his mouth?'_

Danny stopped. Took a deep breath. It was probably best to wake up the teen and let him decide for himself.

And it was probably best to do it as _Phantom_. That way he wouldn't be trapped without his powers with this stranger. Setting the bottles aside so they wouldn't disappear again, he willed himself to go ghost.

Shaking the teen's shoulder lightly was enough to rouse him. Thankfully. Danny wasn't sure what he would have done otherwise.

The coughing teen took the water bottle and mumbled something.

"Sorry, I don't speak Atlantean." Danny tried to keep his tone light, friendly. No need to spook the guy.

Pale eyes met his own.

"I said; thank you." The teen sat up, which was a definite improvement. Something akin to a smile graced his lips, but it soon turned into a frown. He took another sip of water.

"No problem." Danny smiled, relief talking over. "Not to pry, but do you have any idea of how you ended up here?"

As if realising for the first time that he didn't, the older teen looked around. "No."

Danny sighed, but held out a hand to help the Atlantean up. "I'm Phantom."

"Aqualad." His grip was firm, if a bit unsteady. Danny helped him to his feet.

"I think I've heard about you. Aquaman's side-kick, right?"

* * *

Kaldur'ahm allowed himself to scrutinize the glowing teenager. Though he held himself like a warrior, there was an openness to him. Danny Phantom seemed more likely to be a hero than a villain trying to play some sort of trick.

Never mind that the kid was obviously dead.

There were stories told in Atlantis, about ghosts interacting with the living. Stories about sunken ships, filled with the tortured spirits of sailors, long dead. Stories about lights seen in the deep, looking like the magical lanterns of Atlantis, but anyone who tried to follow them were only lured further away from home. In the stories, they never found their way back.

Aqualad looked down on the water bottle in his hand. It was an American brand, which matched the spirit's accent. That made it likely that he was in an American desert. If he remembered correctly, there was one on the west side of the country.

The ghost, Danny, had not seemed surprised that Kaldur had lost some of his memory. That was worrying. Was it because the ghost was behind said memory loss? Kaldur didn't think that was likely, but it was definitely possible.

Not that it truly mattered. If Phantom had wanted to attack, there would have been ample opportunity when Kaldur was unconscious. Further, Kaldur was still in pretty rough shape. Overpowering him would be comparatively easy, and he was in hostile territory. So, for now at least, some level of trust had to be freely given.

If the whole thing _was_ some sort of trick... Well, Aqualad was a soldier, and he wouldn't be caught off-guard.

* * *

Valerie's new and unexplained suit did indeed have a hoverboard.

She was more than a bit creeped out by it, and the way it seemed to be connected directly to her mind, but it was undeniably very practical and an advanced piece of equipment.

She really wished she remembered how she had gotten it in the first place. Maybe from Mr. Masters, just like her first suit? But why couldn't she remember it?

 _'I still wish I knew where I am.'_

Valerie bit her lip.

A small computer opened up on her left arm.

A map appeared on the screen, showing nothing that she could recognize. On the middle of it was a red dot, likely denoting her position. The top left corner held a white dot.

No matter that the suit hadn't come with an instruction manual, it was obviously meant for her normal ghost fighting. That meant the dot could only mark one thing.

A ghost was in the desert with her. Valerie was going to find it and get some answers.

* * *

The two of them followed Danny's previous plan – the picked a direction and started walking. Aqualad has suggested going west, and Danny had been able to find out where that was using the stars.

"How did you guess I had lost my memories?"

Danny looked up, surprised at the question. "Because the last thing _I_ remember, I was... Well, I wasn't anywhere near a desert."

Aqualad nodded, apparently mulling it over. "I might have been sent here by my king, or kidnapped by his enemies, but that would not explain your presence."

"I guess not." Danny shrugged. "And I don't think any of my villains would work with any of yours."

Aqualad frowned. _"Your_ villains?"

"I'm a superhero. Can't you tell from the way I'm dressed?" Danny pointed towards the symbol on his chest... Even though he wasn't quite sure even how the material of the suit had changed into kevlar with padded shoulders, elbows and knees. It was something of a mystery, but not likely to help them get home.

"I suppose so," was all Aqualad said in reply.

Danny simply shrugged again and let the walk descend into an easy silence.

Aqualad was the one who broke it.

"Do you think you can stop glowing? I do not wish to alert any enemies to our position."

Danny looked down on himself in shock. "You know what, I don't know. I've never actually _tried._ " He scrunched up his face in concentration. "Did that do it?"

"No."

Aqualad was giving him the type of irritated look that Jazz sometimes dealt out, so Danny closed his eyes. He was flying, so he didn't have to worry about tripping over anything. Deep breaths. Not that he actually _needed_ to breathe...

' _Focus, Fenton.'_

"Did _that_ work?"

"No."

 _'I can do this. Or_ can _I? Have I ever seen a ghost_ not _glow? Is it even_ possible _? Yes, Johnny and Spectra were able to pretend to be human. How did_ they _do it? They're not even halfway human, so I should logically be twice at good at pretending.'_ He paused his flight. Somewhere deep inside him, separate from his core, was his humanity. The part of his heart that wanted to keep beating. There was a warmth to it. If he suppressed his core, it would take over, but if he only held back his ghostly half a little...

"How about now?"

"No."

Danny threw up his arms in defeat. "Then I guess I can't. Oh well... if anything happens I'll just turn invisible."

Aqualad was looking thoroughly unamused. Before he could say anything about it, however, there were sounds of gunfire in the not so far distance.

A nod was passed between the teens and they hurried towards the sounds, Danny fading from view.

What they arrived at was controlled chaos.

Danny frowned at a small cloud of black smoke. Somebody was using smoke bombs. He approached with caution, only to jump back a bit as an unconscious soldier fell out of the cloud. A decidedly weird laughed echoed through the desert, making goosebumps crawl across Danny's back.

He mentally scolded himself. A ghost shouldn't be freaked out by a human. Years of horror movie marathons with Sam and Tucker had taught him _that_ much.

The smoke cleared, allowing Danny a first good look at the one fighting. He found himself speechless. Robin, the Boy Wonder, _Batman's_ sidekick.

A shout distracted him from his shock. There were still soldiers that needed to be taken down.

Acting more by habit and instinct than anything else, he sent an ecto-blast towards the closest solider.

Big mistake.

He knew that as soon as it connected, the cries of the soldier reaching his ears. The smell of burnt flesh was weak, but his brain latched onto it.

He was fighting _humans,_ living people. They couldn't just shrug off an ecto-blast the way a ghost could. Their wounds didn't heal at an accelerated rate. They were vulnerable in a way his usual opponents weren't.

 _'Hold_ _back,_ _you idiot.'_

If ecto-blasts were off the table, the simplest way was to steal their weapons using invisibility and intangibility.

Danny nodded to himself, that seemed much safer for everyone involved.

It seemed somebody else had the same idea. Soldiers that Danny weren't even close to had their weapons pulled from their hands, before getting knocked out by a grey blur.

Danny considered knocking out his soldiers too, but didn't dare. How hard could he even hit a human without causing permanent damage?

Aqualad took care of them, which was a relief.

The fighting had continued without Danny paying much attention to it. His eyes were locked onto the man his ecto-blast had hit. Danny knew more than a little about medicine, and it looked like a third degree burn. He felt sick.

A voice broke his reverie, making him look up. Three more teenagers had joined them. Robin was currently talking to one of them.

"Robin, Kid Flash." Aqualad's greeting carried an undertone of relief.

Danny hung back, not wanting to... interrupt? The three of them knew each other, that much would have been obvious even if he wasn't a superhero fan. He didn't belong.

Danny spared a glance at the two girls in the group. The blonde archer was eyeing the trio in a similar fashion to Danny, but the other one... The other one looked like a ghost.

Some part of Danny knew that she wasn't. She looked similar to the Martian Manhunter, and his ghost sense hadn't alerted him to any presences. That didn't stop him from tensing up.

She noticed and looked afraid for a second, before looking at her hands. For some reason, that seemed to calm her down.

"Sorry, you kind of look like a ghost." Danny's hand found its way to his neck. "And I've yet to meet one that didn't attack me on sight... No wait, there was that one guy. I think he was called the Cheese Royal? I should really remember this, because he was nice."

"Cheese Royal? Ghosts?" The blonde was looking both worried and a bit amused.

Danny snapped his fingers. "Dairy King! That was his name. He haunts a castle in Wisconsin."

"I'm _pretty sure_ that's not a name." Archer girl smirked, with one raised eyebrow conveying her amusement.

"It is for a ghost." Danny grinned. "Ghosts are worse than supervillains, and they forget they had normal names to begin with."

The Martian girl was visibly relaxing during the nonsensical discussion, which had been the entire point. Danny grinned at her. She smiled back, though hesitantly.

Danny took a closer look at his companions. Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad were famous sidekicks. The green skinned girl was likely related to the Martian Manhunter. Archer girl had distinct Green Arrow influences.

Had he somehow stumbled onto a Justice League operation? And if so, where were the senior members?

He turned towards the girls to ask, hoping that they didn't have the same the memory problems he and Aqualad suffered from, when the archer's eyes widened. Before Danny could process her expression, she pushed him to the ground.

The ground next to them exploded with heat, showering them with dirt, as the blast that had been aimed at Danny missed.

The archer rolled away from Danny, drawing her bow and aiming her arrow in one fluid motion. With much less grace, Danny pulled himself up to stand by her side. Behind them, the sidekick trio mobilized.

The attacker stood on a hoverboard, tiny guns attached to the underside of the board. She glowed faintly red. However, it wasn't Valerie's usual suit. Was this new ghost hunter a copy-cat? Danny shuddered at the thought. "Hello, _Ghost_ _Boy._ " That venomous sneer could only belong to one person, which helped in easing at least some of Danny's fears.

"Hi, Red Huntress. Gone shopping lately?" Danny gestured towards her armour as he flew higher, taking the sidekicks out of the line of fire.

Rather than bantering back, Valerie scowled. "I don't remember."

"I take it you blame me?" Danny had to dodge an attack. "Oh, you _definitely_ blame me."

"What did you do, Ghost Boy!?"

"I really don't think this is my fault. I mean, I guess it _could_ be, but I don't remember either-" Danny was cut off by another pink blast.

"Don't lie to me!"

"Stop this!" The Martian floated up to stand between them, her arms held out in a placating way. Her head darted between the two of them before settling in Valerie's direction. "I know you've lost your memories, but you shouldn't fight. We're a team."

"A team? With _him_?" Valerie clearly didn't believe a word. "She's one of your ghost friends?"

"She's not even a ghost." Danny unknowingly mirrored Valerie's incredulous expression. "And I don't _have_ any ghost friends."

"Doesn't stop her from lying."

Danny couldn't refute that. Besides, Valerie willingly being on a team with him sounded nearly as unbelievable as him being on a team with the Justice League sidekicks. However, saying that wouldn't help de-escalate the situation. "I don't know, we worked great together against Skulker that one time. As long as you don't try to shoot me..."

Valerie snorted.

"Please, I can restore our lost memories." The Martian looked between them again, also glancing towards the rest of the group. "We're a team, we're _friends._ All of us." The Martian gestured towards the people on the ground, successfully drawing Valerie's attention to the Justice League sidekicks.

The ghost hunter stilled for a moment, as recognition struck and she noticed the many weapons aimed her way, before lowering her guns and landing on the sand. "Fine, what do we have to do?"

Danny could only blink in stunned silence at the sudden trust. There was a twinge of resentment in his chest. Of course Valerie would believe the _non-ghosts_ who claimed to not want to hurt her, even without concrete proof.

* * *

Valerie opened her eyes, memories flooding back.

Her mouth opened and a small gasp escaped her lips. "Danny."

"I'm fine, Val." Danny waved lazily. His smile didn't reach his weary eyes. "You didn't hit me or anything."

"That not the point," she replied, tone clipped. Her insides were churning with guilt.

"I'm _fine_." Danny got the last word out through clenched teeth, looking anything but fine.

"Hold on, wait a minute!" Wally's wide eyes danced between the two of them. "I thought you two were a team! You were trying to _kill_ him!"

Robin frowned, while Aqualad eyes contained unreadable emotion. Artemis was biting down on her lip. Miss Martian was wringing her hands together.

"Not six months ago, we weren't." Danny seemed almost grateful for the slight change in subject.

Valerie was anything but.

"I'm a ghost hunter," she finally explained, because she felt like she should admit her faults herself. "He's a ghost. Six months ago, I couldn't see beyond that."

Robin gave a small noise of understanding. "That's why... I should have realised."

Valerie could guess at the end of the unfinished sentence. That was why she had said she didn't know Phantom very well, despite fighting side-by-side with him. Robin and Kid Flash had been shocked at the time, just by her and Danny not being close friends. How did they appear now, when the others knew they were former enemies?

She couldn't look at them, any of them. When nobody said anything, the moment of awkward silence extending, she started fidgeting.

A hand descended on her shoulder, and her head snapped up. Danny was by her side, as steady support. He turned towards the others. "There were some extenuating circumstances. Misunderstandings and propaganda against ghosts, mainly."

She gave him a weak smile in thanks.

Robin looked like he wanted to ask several follow-up questions.

"If you two have both made peace with your past, it is not our place to question." Aqualad took a step forward, drawing all attention to himself. "For now, we have more pressing concerns."

"We need to save Superboy," Miss Martian looked fiercely determined. "Six months ago he didn't even exist! He attacked us, but he doesn't know what he's doing."

Valerie felt a strange sense of companionship due to the new information. At least she wasn't the only one.

Robin started tapping the keys on his arm-computer, tracking their missing teammate.

"Exactly." Aqualad nodded. "However, since we don't know how and why we lost our memories, we need to proceed with caution."

"Found him." Robin looked up briefly before returning his gaze to the map on the holographic screen.

"Miss Martian, you're the only one of us who can deal with a mental attack. While our amnesia maybe caused by some mystical artefact, it is equally likely because of a hostile telepath. Keep the mind link down and sneak in, the rest of us will create a diversion."

"Got it."

* * *

Valerie was surprised to realise that _somehow_ , despite everything _,_ fighting side-by-side with Phantom was as easy as ever. They knew each others fighting styles, but more than that, they trusted each other to cover their weak points.

The battle was over quickly, their diversion turning into an all-out attack as soon as Superboy and Miss Martian joined the fray.

Their enemies didn't stand a chance.

Also, Superboy ended up with a pet alien robot sphere.

* * *

 **AN:** Next chapter, Danny finally gets a mentor. It's a canon DC hero that's known even to casual fans, so if you want to make any guesses at who it is... My choice is based on powers, personality and because I wanted to make a certain reference to the original Young Justice comics.


	9. Mentor

**Mentor**

The inner walls in the cave in Mount Justice looked deceptively normal. Straight and bland, their appearance hid the fact that most of them were made of metal rather than drywall. It was a Batman security thing.

Wally knew this because he had listened with rapt attention whenever his uncle had mentioned the old Justice League headquarters.

He pushed the thought away, because the hard metal that awaited him should he fail wasn't what he needed to be thinking of at that particular moment.

Kid Flash started vibrating.

He stepped towards the wall.

He walked into the wall, knocking himself to the floor.

 _'Attempt 147; failed.'_

"Erm, Wally? Are you okay?"

Wally's face heated, blushing brightly like only a red head could, as he realised that someone had seen him walk into a wall and fall on his butt. He hesitantly craned his neck so that he could see the one who was talking. Danny floated in the air behind him, looking worried. Behind him, Robin was snickering.

"I'm fine."

"Are you _sure_?"

Maybe it was a legitimate question, considering how he was still lying flat on the floor. Wally hurried to get to his feet. "Fit as a fiddle."

Robin smirked. "He was trying to walk through walls again."

"Mhmm." Danny's flat tone didn't sound very understanding.

"Flash can do it, so theoretically..."

"Oh!" Danny smiled, letting a closed fist fall into his open hand. "I get it. For a second there I was worried. You just... walked into a wall, you know?"

Wally could feel himself reddening again. "It's hard to learn a new power. Flash won't teach me, because he thinks-"

"No, no. I understand. Plasmius can do this duplication thing, but when I try it..." Danny's face scrunched up in a disgusted grimace.

"Really?" If Wally jumped onto that comment quickly, it was only because he was still embarrassed.

"You know what, I'll show you." Danny nodded to himself, emboldened when Wally and Robin cheered him on.

What happened next was the stuff of really silly nightmares.

For a moment, it looked like Danny was going to split into two, but then he jerked like a rubber band stretched to his limit. That somehow left him with two heads.

Then his arm grew an extra arm. Which grew a leg. Which grew an eye. Which grew a foot. Which grew a malformed head, silently screaming in agony.

Danny shuddered and the extra body parts pulled themselves back into his body.

"That was a disaster, heavy on the dis." Robin didn't bother hiding his reaction, and shocked disgust was plain to see on his face, despite the sunglasses.

"Sorry, probably should have warned you."

"You think?"

"That didn't hurt, did it?" Wally frowned.

"Nah. My body's just ectoplasm, self-image and willpower. Growing an extra _everything_ doesn't... It's like when my legs disappear. It's perfectly normal, for a ghost."

Robin and Wally nodded, both having noticed the odd way Danny didn't seem to have legs whenever he wasn't actively kicking someone.

"I've been meaning to ask you about that, actually." Wally leaned forward. "Do you just... forget to have legs?"

"... Yes." Danny pushed the tips of his fingers together in front of his face, hiding behind them.

"Really?" Robin's eyebrows shot up.

"Do you think about having legs all the time?" He rolled his eyes, like the answer was bound to be 'of course not'.

"Um. _Yeah._ Speedster." Wally pointed a thumb towards his chest.

"Right." Danny's ears took on the colour of radioactive grass. As far as blushes went, it was weird. "Well. Erm. I need to check on the cookies." Danny turned around and flew straight through a wall.

Wally suppressed the tinge of jealousy that appeared.

"Did you notice that?" Robin frowned.

Wally cocked his head. "Notice what?"

"When talking about his powers, the first person Danny thought to compare himself to-"

"Was the creepy vampire-wannabe who attacked us," finished Wally. "That's kinda bad."

"Because Danny doesn't have a mentor." Robin looked away from the wall, turning to face Wally fully. "We should do something."

"I hate to break it to you Rob, but we don't know any other ghosts." Wally's tone was flippant, but his body language betrayed his frustration.

"No, but we _do_ know plenty of superheroes."

"That wouldn't be the same thing and you know it. Martian Manhunter wouldn't be able to teach me how to vibrate through walls."

"Yes, and _that's_ why Canary hasn't been able to find Danny a mentor yet." Robin leaned against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. "We need to think outside the box. Forget about learning new ghost powers, we won't find anyone who can teach him that. Let's focus on what he _can_ do."

"I guess... Danny mainly just flies around and throws green energy at people." Wally paused, a smile spreading across his face. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"You know I am."

* * *

"You, you're coming with us."

Danny hesitantly put down the tray of freshly baked cookies. He gave M'gann a questioning look, but she seemed as confused as he was. Superboy sat in the living area, ignoring them all.

Wally and Robin waited impatiently, arms crossed and faces neutral.

"Where are we going?" Danny peeled off his oven gloves and hung up his apron. The atmosphere was getting a bit too serious to be wearing gloves over his gloves.

"It's a surprise." Wally tapped his foot against the floor, likely not even aware that he was doing it.

"Okaaay." Danny allowed himself to be herded to the Zeta Tubes.

"Stay invisible," said Robin.

"Wait! I almost forgot! "Wally zoomed away in a blur and returned with a hand full of cookies. "Now we can go!"

Robin smiled impishly and stole a cookie, before entering the Zeta Tubes.

Wally made an strangled noise at the theft, kind of like a dying cat, before following.

Danny shrugged and joined them, glad that the awkward tension had been broken.

" **Recognized; Robin, B01. Kid Flash, B03. Phantom, B09.** "

"Welcome to Coast City, and the sunny California." Wally threw out an arm, as if to encompass the entire landscape.

The three of them had ended up in a cave, of all things. Outside was a large canyon. Stone in warm tans mixed with green shrubbery. To the west, the ocean stretched out. With the cloudless light blue sky, the view was nothing short of beautiful.

Danny gave a low whistle.

Apparently, a low whistle coming from what appeared to be empty space was a bit startling, if Wally's look was any indication.

After barely pausing long enough to take in the scenery, just enough time to orient themselves, Robin and Wally set off again. Danny could do little but follow.

Wally and Robin filled the silence with empty chatter until they reached their location, far enough in the middle of nowhere that it had to be the reason for the Zeta Tubes to be opening where they did. The city itself was far away.

A sign outside the fenced off area read _'Ferris_ _Aircraft'._

It was a small private airport, with a few hangars off to the side. The place was a study in concrete and cement, grey and seemingly boring in comparison with the vivid landscape.

Danny was entranced.

A man waited by the gates. He snapped to attention as he saw them, his body language open and confident. Between the brown hair and the loose beige uniform, he had an average appearance. "There you are! I've been waiting for you."

Robin smiled widely. "Hi, Hal."

"We didn't take _that_ long," pouted Wally.

"Well, it was nothing like waiting for your uncle, I'll give you that." Hal made a show of looking around. "Didn't you say you were gonna bring a friend? One of your new teammates?"

"He's here." Wally's tone was teasing.

"Hi," said Danny, because he couldn't think of a better opener.

To his credit, Hal didn't show any obvious signs of shock as a voice appeared out of empty space. "Of course. You're _invisible._ I should have realised."

"Hal Jordan, meet Danny." Wally gestured vaguely between the man and where he thought Danny's voice had come from. It was slightly to the left of where he actually was. "Phantom, Green Lantern."

Green Lantern... There were three of those, though it was obvious which one Hal was from the way he looked. He wasn't one of the heroes that had showed up for Danny's Introduction to Ghosts speech.

"A pleasure." Hal smiled and extended a hand, not commenting on Danny's lack of a surname or visibility.

Danny felt his respect for the man go up a notch. Not everyone would willingly offer their hand to someone who was invisible, not knowing if the hand would be taken by another hand of by a tentacle or something equally horrid.

"Pleased to meet you." Danny was quick to shake Hal's hand, before the Lantern could start to think he was being snubbed. "I'd turn visible, but even in direct sunlight I'm obviously not human, and I don't want to cause a scene."

" _Even_ in direct sunlight? It's usually the other way around, hiding in the shadows and all that." Hal's smile bordered on cocky, with just enough good humour that it wasn't grating.

"I glow. It's a ghost thing."

"You're a ghost. Hmm." There was not a hint of fear in Hal's eyes. If anything, he was flippant about it. "Sure, why not?"

"Oh, I like this guy." Danny couldn't help but smile widely, even though no one could see it.

Wally and Robin traded smug glances.

"Wanna see the planes?" Hal tilted his head towards the hangars.

"We'd love to," interjected Robin, with the sort of casualness that hinted that he had been there before.

"Follow me," grinned Hal.

The four of them crossed the employee parking lot and entered the closest hangar.

"You can turn visible if you want, there's no one else in here." Hal waved negligently, not bothered by the risk of them being discovered.

Danny thought about it for a second before letting go of his invisibility.

Hal gave him a short appraising look. "And here I figured you'd be taller."

Danny blinked. That... wasn't the reaction he had been expecting. But of course someone would think he was tall, if just going by where his voice originated when he was floating several feet above the ground. "Obeying the laws of gravity is for losers."

Hal laughed. Wally looked personally offended. Robin appeared to be rolling his eyes behind his sunglasses.

"So... You're an engineer or something?" Danny looked around at the many different planes around them. There were lots of subtle differences that he wouldn't have been able to understand if his parents hadn't built their own jet/blimp/ops-center.

"Test pilot, actually."

"That's, like, the second coolest job _ever."_

Wally and Robin snickered. Danny ignored them.

"Only second?" Hal put on a wounded face.

"You forget that astronauts exist."

"I'll give you that." Hal shrugged, but there was a glimmer of _something_ in his eyes as he continued. "I've been to space."

"So the rumours about Green Lanterns being space cops are true?" Danny's eyes widened and he clasped his hands together. "Tell me everything!"

* * *

The Plan was going perfectly.

Sure, Stage One of the Plan had simply been to put Danny and Hal together in a room together and hope they'd get along, but _still._

Wally tried to contain his smirk. He ultimately failed, but at least he put in a concentrated effort.

Time for Stage Two.

"Say, Hal." Wally leaned forward. "You and Danny actually have quite similar powers."

Robin gave him a look that said _'way to be subtle'._ Wally ignored it.

"Really?" Hal turned towards Danny.

"I guess. Between the glowing and the flying and the green energy..." Danny shrugged. "Though I've got a lot more than that."

"Hey now, don't dismiss green energy." Hal pointed an accusing finger at Danny.

"Yeah," Robin gave a soft snort. "If a _certain_ _someone_ could remember to use his shields, instead of getting thrown into walls..."

"That was one time during training!" Danny crossed his arms.

Robin gave him a level look.

"No, I'm pretty sure you've only seen that happen one time." Danny mock pouted, ignoring how his wording made him more or less admit that it had happened more than once.

Hal gave a short laugh. "Yeah, remembering to put up a shield in time can be a pain. Takes a bit of practice."

"Ugh, I _know._ "

"Maybe you could show Danny a few tricks," said Wally, once more as subtle as a sledgehammer to the face. "Or discuss tactics or something."

"Er..." Hal frowned. "I don't know what you're planning, but I'm not looking for a sidekick."

"That's why we're here?" Danny's eyebrows shot up and the soft glow his body gave off turned sharper. "I never agreed to that. I've already got a town to protect, I don't have _time_ to be anyone's sidekick."

"We're not sidekicks, we're _junior_ _partners_ " mumbled Wally.

"Thanks guys." Danny turned to walk away. "But I don't think this will work."

"Come on! Give it a chance!" Robin jumped into Danny's path. "It's not like you have a lot of other offers."

"I'm not exactly offering," noted Hal.

"I don't need a mentor anymore. I've been figuring out stuff on my own since I got these powers." Danny floated a little higher. "And he's not even a ghost."

"Yeah, we don't know any ghost heroes aside from you." Wally frowned.

"I don't think there are any aside from me." Danny tilted his head, momentarily distracted. "I mean, at least I don't know of any. But that's not the point."

"No, the point is that most of the things you do during a normal battle is stuff a Green Lantern can do. Having one instructing you would really help." Robin threw a glance in Hal's direction before returning his gaze to Danny. "We didn't think you'd become a crime fighting team, just that you could train together."

"Listen, it's not that I don't appreciate it. It would be nice to have a mentor, but you can't just push people into stuff like that."

Wally was secretly happy he hadn't told Danny the story of how he became Kid Flash.

"I guess." Robin sighed dramatically. "We're gonna have to turn to another Green Lantern then."

Hal nodded. "John is-"

"I don't think his personality would be the best fit for Danny." Robin frowned.

"You can't argue that Danny isn't like a miniature version of you... except less arrogant." Wally smirked.

"We were actually thinking about asking Guy Gardner."

"You were _not."_ Hal looked outraged.

"Sure we are." Robin smirked. "We turned to you first since Bats hates Gardner."

"Batman hates me too, you know."

"Yeah, but the Flash likes you, so that gives you plus points." Wally kept his tone light, to not reveal that they were switching to Plan B.

"Phantom deserves better than Gardner." Hal looked personally offended at the very idea.

Good, Hal had obviously grown at least _a little_ attached during their previous conversation.

"Should I be worried?" Danny looked between the three of them. "I think I should be worried."

"Nah, it's fine." Robin threw an arm over Danny's shoulder. "Gardner's a bit... abrasive. You'll get used to him."

"The sad part is, as long as he doesn't try to kill my dad he'll still be the best option I've got." Despite his blasé words, Danny's eyes darted back to Hal to see his reaction.

At least one part of the partnership was convinced.

"That's the spirit." Robin smiled.

"No, that's super depressive," protested Hal. "And don't think I don't know what you're doing."

 _'I guess Plan B is a bust, then.'_

"What? We're not doing anything." Robin clutched a hand over his heart, the very picture of innocence. "We're just considering our options."

"What about J'onn? He's got the whole ghosting through walls thing going on."

"He's already got his hands full with Megs."

"Superman?" Hal looked like he was grasping for straws, his eyes darting around for inspiration.

"With Superboy around? Having Superman take an interest in anotherperson on the team would be a disaster, heavy on the dis."

Wally nodded emphatically.

Danny's brows knitted in a frown. "What's wrong between Superman and SB?"

"Long story, tell you later."

Hal sighed.

"Just give it a try." Wally gave it his best puppy-dog eyes.

Robin seemed to be mimicking the look, but it was hard to tell through the sunglasses.

" _Fine._ We'll give it a shot." Hal rolled his eyes and smiled. "But I promise no more than that."

"Oh. Erm. Thank you?" Danny's eyes widened. There was the hint of a green blush on his cheeks.

"No prob, kid. We'll get in touch, okay?"

"Yeah." Danny smiled widely. "'I'm sorry about whatever that was." He gestured at the two mock-innocent teenage superheroes. "But you won't regret this."

"I'm sure I won't." Hal waved them off.

It took Danny the entire walk to the Zeta Tubes to snap out it. They noticed, because he immediately cuffed them over the back of their heads.

"Ouch! What was that for?" Wally pouted, rubbing the sore sport.

"Manipulating me like that. You could have just _said_ something."

"We get you a mentor, and that's the thanks we get?" Robin scowled, but there was a teasing tone in his voice.

"Yes. Well. _Thanks._ " Danny crossed his arms and avoided eye contact. The green blush had returned. "I've always wanted a superhero mentor."

Wally and Robin shared a subtle high-five.

* * *

 **AN:** This chapter didn't turn out the way I'd planned, but it like it for what it is. Still, next chapter will have a lot of plot and twists and stuff to make up for it.

Everyone I considered to be Danny's mentor (Deadman, Spectre, the other Green Lanterns, Martian Manhunter) got at least one guess. That's pretty awesome. The main thing that made me pick Hal over the others was the original Young Justice comics. The ghost member there, Secret, had Hal as a mentor for a short time. (Sure, Hal as Spectre rather than Hal as Green Lantern, but Danny's powers are pretty Lantern-ish and I don't know how to write a good Spectre.)

Chapter dedicated to the ones that guessed correctly: Iskandar06, Turtledude83, NeoOokami, Glaciaj Flamoj, KingOfWhispers, Unturned, kitkatkate2008, HEB807 and a guest.


	10. Hunted

**AN:** This chapter comes shortly after the Young Justice episode _Targets,_ but don't worry – I will make everything that it entails clear in the story itself. Just thought I'd make a note of it for the hardcore fans. (You know who you are.)

The inspiration for this was what I felt was missing from the episode _Alpha Male_ , but it's changed so much since initial planning that I'm not sure it's what I was going for anymore. (I don't even care anymore, I've been working on this for too long.) Any and all similarities to _Alpha Male_ are on purpose and amuse me greatly.

Chapter dedicated to the tumblr blog _dannyphantom-justiceleauge_ [sic],who rekindled my love for mixing Danny Phantom and DC superheroes.

* * *

 **Hunted**

Superboy, the newly named Conner Kent, punched the glowing green shield as hard as he could.

The barrier trembled, but held strong, encasing Superboy on all sides. The spherical wall was so close, it was hard to get the momentum needed to destroy it.

Still, Superboy made one more attempt.

Finally, _finally,_ the wall crumbled. Big hunks of glowing green energy broke off and disintegrated before they hit the ground.

A few steps away, the ghost that had held him trapped gave a small laugh. Phantom's arms still shook from the effort of maintaining the barrier. The glow that always surrounded his body was weak and flickering, nearly impossible to see under under the lights of the training room. His feet both touched the ground, a surer sign of exhaustion than anything else.

"Almost got you that time," Danny smiled.

Conner grunted in acknowledgement and turned to walk towards the kitchen.

Danny was quick to follow, as weird as it was that he did it on foot. "Thanks for helping me out."

Conner gave a small nod in reply.

"I don't get why it's so much easier to hold a sphere with me on the inside." Danny started prattling on about his lessons with Green Lantern, and Conner made sure to make noises at appropriate times.

The kitchen in the base under Mount Justice was empty when they got there. Conner pulled out a jar of cookies, made by M'gann and Danny, and pushed it towards the ghost before settling down in front of the TV. Conner switched on his favourite show: static.

Danny smiled and took the whole cookie jar with him to the sofa.

"Did you know, that roughly one percent of TV static is caused by the Cosmic Microwave Background?" Danny ate two cookies in quick succession, making a barely passable imitation of Wally. Still, his glow was starting to return to normal.

Conner grunted with interest. Neither Cadmus nor Happy Harbor High had thought to teach him that. Probably because the information was less than useful.

Danny descended into a _somehow_ related story of satellite dishes and cleaning off bird poop to win the Nobel Prize. Conner could have done without, but it was obvious that Danny found the whole thing very interesting, so he listened anyway.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Robin came through the door, closely followed by Wally and the girls.

"We're talking about the program we're watching, of course." Danny grinned.

As one, the others glanced towards the TV. It was still displaying nothing but white noise.

"Riiight." Wally made a move to steal a cookie. Since Danny was glowing normally again, Conner let it slide. "Anyway, we've got no time to sit around. We've got a mission briefing."

* * *

Aqualad steeled himself, squaring his shoulders and taking a deep breath.

He needed to tell Batman _now,_ before the others joined them in front of the holographic screens.

"May I have a word?" Aqualad almost hoped for a negative response.

Batman nodded curtly.

"When I helped Red Arrow protect the peace meeting, Sportsmaster made a worrying comment." Aqualad sighed. "He outright stated he had a mole on the Team. I'm unsure of how to proceed."

Batman became very still, and he seemed to stare into nothing for a few seconds. "There is no reason for him to tell you something like that, so he is likely lying... but we can't afford to dismiss it outright. It's best if we keep it a secret from-"

It was at that moment that Superboy entered the room, his deep scowl revealing how much of the conversation his superhearing had let him overhear.

* * *

"-a mole on the Team. I am unsure of how to proceed."

Conner could barely hear the rest over the blood rushing through his ears. A traitor. There was a traitor on the Team? No, that was ridiculous.

He barged into the room, followed by the others. While they hadn't heard what Conner had, they could easily tell from his reaction that something was going on.

"Superboy-" began Aqualad, before Conner could cut him off.

"You think there's a traitor on the Team!?" His voice raised in volume at the outrage. Conner stalked forward, not noticing or caring about how threatening an image he projected.

"Superboy, stand down." Batman's voice bore no argument.

Conner was about to make one anyway, when he noticed the reactions of his teammates.

Robin stood apart from the others, narrowed eyes flickering between them. His gaze seemed to rest especially long on Conner.

Wally was giving Artemis the stink eye, which she readily returned. Danny and Valerie seemed to be holding an entire conversation with their eyes, but there was no suspicion between the two of them. M'gann looked worried and withdrawn, her shoulders hunched.

Did nobody except him see how ridiculous it was? There was no way there was a mole on the Team. They were family.

Or at least they were _his_ family. It wouldn't be the first time he let his emotions cloud his judgement. Just because he cared about every single member of the Team didn't mean they returned the sentiment.

* * *

Robin didn't know what to think.

There was no way KF or Aqualad was a traitor, he had known them for years before the Team was founded, but the rest...

Superboy was a clone, who had been mind controlled until the Team rescued him. There was no telling what sort of programming Cadmus had left in his brain. He could be the traitor and not even know it.

Artemis lied about her past, that much was obvious. The question was why and what she was hiding. He had been planning on finding out, but the mystery of Phantom had taken precedence on account of being more outlandish.

Red Huntress and Phantom also had secrets, like the previous animosity that the amnesia in Bialya had revealed. Red obviously had murderous tendencies, and a willingness to act on them, while Phantom was an impossibly big mystery. The time travelling ghost could hold loyalties to literally _anyone._

Miss Martian was a suspect mainly on account of Robin not wanting to disregard the possibility. Besides, an infiltrator on a team featuring a mind reader was most likely to get away with it if they were the mind reader. Not that Miss M regularly read their thoughts beyond what they willingly shared with the mind link... Unless she _was_ the mole and read their minds and kept it secret.

"Enough." Batman's brusque voice broke through Robin's haze. "I called you here for a mission."

A few quick clicks brought up poorly taken photographs of neon green against grainy black. Some of the black took the shape of leaves, and was obviously in front of whatever it was that glowed.

"There have been sightings of suspicious green light phenomena, as well as the sounds of explosions, in the Brazilian parts of the Amazon Forest. You will investigate."

Nobody seemed enthusiastic about the prospect anymore.

* * *

The Bio-ship landed in a small clearing by a river. The rain forest was lush, warm, and overgrown. The air humidity was ridiculously high, compared to Amity Park.

Danny was on edge.

 _'A traitor. There's a_ traitor.'

It seemed far-fetched, but Danny knew that at least one of his teammates had worked for a supervillain.

"Hey, psst, Red." Danny floated over as they exited the ship.

Valerie gave him a concerned look.

"Do you still work for Vlad Masters?" Danny kept his voice a low whisper.

"No, you were right about him being bad news." Valerie shook her head and made a face like she'd bitten into something sour.

Danny raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment.

 _'Wonder what he did to earn that reaction.'_

"Miss Martian, establish a mind link," ordered Aqualad. His voice was his usual calm and even timbre.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" asked Valerie with an uncomfortable glance towards M'gann. "If she's the traitor..."

Miss Martian fidgeted.

"Of course it is, there's no way Miss M is the traitor." Kid Flash sped over to stand in front of M'gann.

"Just because you have a crush-"

"I don't have-"

"We can stick to normal radio," interrupted Aqualad. "We're splitting into groups. Robin, Artemis, Red Huntress; you're with me. We'll follow the river upstream." Aqualad indicated the direction with his head. "Superboy, Miss Martian, Kid Flash, Phantom; downstream."

Danny gave Aqualad a quick salute before following his team into the forest.

He was growing tired of people thinking he was evil.

Danny had thought, for what felt like a fleeting moment, that joining the Team meant he was past that. That the Justice League deciding he wasn't a villain would soon mean that the rest of the world would realise the same thing.

Maybe he had been naïve.

Something as simple as moving forward was difficult, but not as difficult as it would be for normal people. He and Miss Martian flew above the undergrowth, and Superboy was in a category on his own. He barrelled forward like a bull, letting his superstrength and durability carve him a path through the forest.

Meanwhile, Kid Flash seemed to trip over every single thing he came across. Partly because he wouldn't stop sending Danny and Superboy suspicious glares.

Danny ignored him. Phantom got worse glares regularly from his parents. Instead, he focused on the forest around him. He couldn't see any suspicious lights, but that didn't mean there was nothing going on.

"Do you think we'll have to wait until it gets dark?" Danny floated higher, into hearing distance from Miss Martian. The sun stood low in the sky, but it would be hours until it fully set.

"Maybe." M'gann seemed happy to have something to distract her from the whole mole issue, even though it was still awkward.

Just as she was about to say something else, a green explosion came from the distance.

Danny's breath fogged in the air. "We've got ghost trouble."

Superboy gave a quick nod, and turned on the specter deflector he wore as a belt. Kid Flash pulled out a Thermos.

They approached quickly but cautiously, not letting anybody fall behind. It was more important to be prepared for whatever than to get there as soon as possible.

That didn't stop Danny from immediately getting hit in the chest by an ectoblast.

Danny pulled himself up again just in time to block a second blast with a small shield powered purely by his irritation with himself for not getting it up earlier.

 _'At least we found the disturbance.'_

Hanging in the air, with a vicious smile on his face and an ecto-gun pointed at Danny, was Skulker. "Hello, whelp."

Danny blinked, before raising his index finger. "Okay, quick question and then we can get back to fighting or whatever... But Skulker, what are you doing here? We're in the middle of nowhere!" At the last word, Danny threw out his arm as if to encompass the entire rain forest.

"Do you know _every_ ghost?" muttered KF.

 _'I bet KF is the mole and is using the situation to tear the team apart,'_ Danny thought bitterly.

"I'm on a hunt," said Skulker with a tone that made it very clear he considered the question ridiculous and unnecessary, and Danny stupid for asking it.

"You know, that much I could figure out for myself, Nimrod."

"My prey escaped to this place." Skulker looked petulant, which contrasted oddly with him shooting Superboy in the chest. "I just followed."

Superboy stumbled back, a smoking hole in his shirt, but seemed mostly unharmed. Skulker gave him a thoughtful look, like an antiques dealer appraising an unfamiliar vase.

"Is that a Kryptonian?"

A shiver went up Danny's spine.

Kid Flash's eyes, which were _not_ in fact turned towards the obvious threat but at Danny, narrowed. Before Danny could make some lame excuse, he spoke. "So what if he is?"

Skulker grinned wider. "Kryptonians are even rarer than haflas. His cut off head would make a nice trophy on my wall."

"You couldn't just let me handle it!?" hissed Danny.

"Of course not, you could be the mole!" Kid Flash didn't have the decency to look embarrassed. "You and your ghost friend over there could be planning something!"

Danny felt like punching someone. In the face. With a blunt instrument. However, he couldn't even punch Skulker without giving up his defensive position protecting Superboy.

"Erm, guys." Miss Martian's voice cut through Danny's murderous fantasies. "Shouldn't we be more concerned with what he was hunting when he got here?"

* * *

Valerie dodged another swipe from the ghost's huge and sharp claws.

Artemis had taken up position in a nearby tree, reading her ecto-arrows, while Robin pulled out a Fenton-made staff that lit up green at the ends. Aqualad stuck to his usual weapons, as magic had proven effective against ghosts.

Valerie, being the one with the most maneuverability in the air, was acting as the distraction. The fact that the ghost was focused on her, to the exclusion of all else, helped.

 _'At least this isn't a weird "is this ghost evil" dilemma. A giant ghostly werewolf dressed in prison garb who attacks people is bound to be bad.'_

Valerie immediately silenced the little voice in the back of her mind that pointed out that while the ghost _had_ attacked them first, he seemed to have done so out of desperation rather than malice. That the looks he sent her were afraid, not smug.

However, _prison garb_ meant bad guy _._ Right? Right.

Yet, she still wished she could understand a single word he said. The ghostly werewolf spoke some language that not even Robin could translate properly – he claimed that while it sounded close to Spanish, it was distinct enough to muck up his understanding. Even then, the ghost apparently wasn't all that coherent to begin with.

Valerie blasted the thing again, making it bleed ectoplasm on the forest floor.

The ghost flinched and... paused, turning his nose into the air and inhaling loudly.

Valerie froze. The ghost was smelling something... or _someone._

Before she could finish her thought, the ghost started running in the direction of the others.

 _'Danny! The ghost must recognize his scent! If he gets himself mauled by a ghost werewolf I'm gonna-'_

Rather than finish her silent threat, Valerie flew down and picked up her teammates. Robin and Aqualad crunched down on the front of the hover-board, while Artemis grabbed onto Valerie's shoulders.

Weighed down as she was, Valerie quickly lost ground on the ghost.

Valerie's breath caught in her throat as they turned a corner and it became beyond doubt that the ghost was running towards Phantom. Even Skulker, that hunter that had kidnapped her and Phantom and handcuffed them together that one time, became unimportant as the werewolf approached her friend.

Phantom was holding a glowing shield over Superboy, protecting him from Skulker's attack. He wouldn't notice until the werewolf was upon him.

"Oh no you don't!" Valerie shouted and powered up her largest ecto-gun.

Danny's head shot up as he heard her shout, eyes snapping from her to the werewolf ghost.

In a flurry of motion, Phantom somersaulted over the werewolf's shoulder and brought up a shield to block Valerie's attack.

The ghostly wolf twisted, bringing himself to stand over Phantom without restraining the other ghost. He growled at them.

It took Valerie a dizzying second to interpret the body language for what it was; the werewolf was protective of Danny.

Danny didn't need to glare, in a sharp glowing neon green, for Valerie to regret attacking the other ghost.

"Friend of yours?" asked Robin.

"Amiko," agreed the werewolf.

Danny smiled at the word. Without turning, he then launched into a series of questions in the odd language before nodding decisively at the answers.

Phantom's eyes travelled between the members of the Team and Skulker, judging them on something she couldn't even begin to guess. Eventually, his gaze settled on Aqualad's water bearers. With them and magic the Atlantean could form any weapon. Danny took a deep breath. "Aqualad, cut off Skulker's head."

"Wait, what!?" shouted Kid Flash.

"I'm busy protecting everyone." Danny nodded his head towards his ghostly friend's injury and the green shields around Superboy. "Someone else has to do it."

"We don't _cut off_ villains' heads!" objected Robin.

"Just **trust me!** " Danny's echoing voice had taken a broken tone, sounding like it hurt to use. He looked like he was about to say more, to explain, when Skulker shot a missile at him. The words were lost in the explosion, and when the dust settled a single dome-shaped shield was standing in the middle of a crater.

Aqualad's pale eyes narrowed, before he nodded towards Valerie.

It wasn't easy to dodge attacks and position herself in a good spot, but it wasn't all that hard either.

With one smooth motion, Aqualad jumped off the hover-board. His water shaped itself into twin swords, and Skulker's head was summarily removed from his body.

There was a perfect second of silence, before Kid Flash sped over and grabbed onto Aqualad's arm. "How could you-"

"It's fine." Phantom nonchalantly flew over to the abandoned head and pulled something small and green and protesting out of it. "I'd like to introduce Skulker, without the suit."

"Oh." Wally's exclamation was small, little more than a controlled exhale.

The tiny ghostly blob swore at them in a high-pitched voice. Danny stuck him in a Thermos.

"And this guy right here is Wulf." Danny threw and arm over the werewolf's shoulder. The size difference between the two of them was suddenly very noticeable. "He's my _amiko_ , even if he looks kinda scary and only speaks Esperanto."

The ghost bared his teeth at Valerie when Danny wasn't looking.

"He's wearing prison garb," Valerie couldn't help but point out.

"Yeah, the Ghost Zone's legal system is... not a real thing? Don't worry about it." Danny scratched the back of his head. "Trust me on this one, too?"

Wulf said something in Esperanto, to which Danny nodded.

"Since Wulf's injured, he's coming back with us." Danny's voice was resolute, hard like steel.

Kid Flash looked like he contemplated protesting, but in the end kept his mouth shut.

Aqualad held up a single hand, silently asking for a moment's quiet.

Danny tensed, arm still slung around Wulf's shoulder.

"While Wulf may come with us, I fear there is another matter we must address." Aqualad looked between the members of the Team. "If we cannot trust each other, we cannot function as a team."

 _'He's dissolving the Team.'_ The thought ran through Valerie's head like an ice-cold wind. _'No! He can't do that!'_

"As such, I feel it is necessary to point out that the information regarding the mole came from Sportsmaster."

"Sportsmaster, as in the mercenary?" Robin frowned.

"Sportsmaster!? You can't trust _him!"_ Artemis gestured sharply.

"Indeed, we can not. Sportsmaster must have gotten his intel from comparing notes with other villains. This was likely a mere diversion, or an attempt to rip us apart." Aqualad nodded. "One that nearly worked. We will not fall for the same trick twice."

"So, no mole?" Danny looked hopeful.

"There is no mole." The thought was echoed by several members of the Team.

And it looked like they were going to stay members of the Team for some time still.

* * *

 **AN:** I've decided that since I'm juggling so many characters I'm just going to not include Zatanna or Rocket. While having Zatanna interact with Danny might be interesting, it's probably not worth it. I don't want to become pulled into too many directions.

On that note, don't expect a lot of focus on Team Phantom or Dani. Both are gonna have their moments in the spotlight, but it's more of a one-shot deal than them becoming core members of the cast. (Why do I have so many characters?)


End file.
